Wonderwall
by Ksiezniczka
Summary: G1 Slash ScreamerXBee After finding out he was made by Soundwave, the only mech poor Bumblebee can turn to is the mentally unstable and physically abused Starscream. And after all, he's Starscream's Wonderwall...
1. Chapter 1

**I am bored, and lately I have become obsessed with Transformers. It is like crack! Flaah! Haha… but seriously, I've already figured out that I'm not so good at drawing them (mech isn't really my thing, but then again, it's easier than animals for me), but I want to test how good at writing them. Feedback is much appreciated. Keep in mind this isn't meant to be taken seriously… yet…**

**Sorry for butchering everything that comes out of Jazz's mouth, too. Slang – other than Valley Girl stuff – isn't my forte. I tried though.**

**For those of you who doubt that Megatron REALLY abuses Starscream, go watch the old G1 episode "Hoist Goes Hollywood". I'm serious.**

**So… I don't own Transformers or the song from which this fic gets its title… and stuff… Do I look like Hasbro or Oasis to you!?**

…**really?**

**--**

_And all the roads we had to walk are winding  
And all the lights that lead us there are blinding  
There are many things that I would like to say to you  
But I don't know how  
And maybe  
You're gonna be the one that saves me  
And after all  
You're my Wonderwall_

**--**

While the Decepticons were still at large, they hadn't been spotted for quite some time. That aside, it was pretty much a normal day in the volcano that served as Autobot HQ. Optimus and Prowl were pretending to be having a serious private meeting, but really just throwing random objects at a photo of Megatron. Ratchet was enjoying a rare recharge while Wheeljack, for once not causing any explosions, took his place in the Med Bay. Much to the dismay of Ironhide, who had been assigned to keep an eye on them, the twins were nowhere to be found, and yet security camaras showed they hadn't left the base. And Bumblebee was…

…reflecting?

"Yo, Bee?" the small yellow bot looked up to see Jazz grinning down at him. Bumblebee hadn't noticed the other coming, and thus gave a startled yelp. "Sorry," Jazz chuckled. "Didn't mean to scare ya!"

"Didn't mean to get so fidgety," Bumblebee answered, smiling when he realised who it was. "What's up?"

"You looked…" Jazz paused, searching for the right word, before settling on, "depressed… Anything wrong, l'il guy?"

"Nothing," Bumblebee lied, not wanting to worry his older friend. The yellow mech wanted so badly for all the older bots to take him seriously, especially Optimus, and if word got out just what he was worried about… "Hey, Jazz? Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"You and Soundwave were friends before the war, right?"

Jazz seemed a little taken aback – Bumblebee couldn't have possibly remembered that far – but answered honestly, "Guess you could say that."

"What was he like?"

"Heh. Not much different than he is now. Stoic and brutally honest. Most mechs hated his aft for it, but he didn't care. When he was around his sparkling casseticons, though… it reminded me why we were friends in the first place…"

"You knew him when he got the casseticons?"

"Rumble and Frenzy, the eldest ones, other than Ravage. They were too young to even speak when we left Cybertron."

"He really cares about them, huh?" Bumblebee was a little surprised. He had heard Jazz talking in his sleep about Soundwave and it had reminded him of his present situation. But he hadn't really expected to hear that.

"Same as Prime cares 'bout you, Bee."

The two sat in silence, Bumblebee smiling contently at that last comment. Optimus Prime had taken him under his wing – figuratively, of course, as Prime's alt-mode didn't fly – when he was just a sparkling, and Prime's opinion of him meant everything to Bumblebee.

"Same as Ratchet cares about Sunny and Sides, though he'd never admit it," Jazz finally spoke again, chuckling softly. As if to emphasize the point, the two bots heard the medic shouting for the twins – he had just woken up to find they had played yet another prank on him. Jazz and Bumblebee exchanged a look, then they both began to laugh.

Their laughs grew when Ratchet appeared before them, parts painfully pinched and painted to give him the appearance of a – rather masculine – lilac-coloured femme. His V-shaped head crest was mysteriously missing. "Where. Are. They?" the medic spat each word, seething fury turning his normally placid optics to a red that suddenly reminded Bumblebee why he was feeling upset in the first place.

Suddenly, Sideswipe – Sunstreaker was far too vain to pull such a stunt – entered the room. Wearing Ratchet's head crest, as well as washable white paint.

"Nurse," Sideswipe addressed an extremely pissed off Ratchet in a fake British accent that sounded nothing like how the medic would speak. "Have you seen my welding parts? I promised a couple of extremely sexy Lamborghinis I'd weld them together if they pulled another of their little stunts..."

Here, Jazz howled with laughter. It was obvious Ratchet really had to restrain himself to keep from going at Sideswipe's throat.

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so I thank you," the medic spat through gritted teeth, though he didn't look very thankful.

Sideswipe then pulled an object out from a compartment under his armour – Ratchet's beloved favourite wrench – and stroked it suggestively. "Shame, Nurse. I had rather hoped to get some hot, Siamese, special massage with happy ending…"

"Sideswipe, I do not sound like that, and the very idea of myself letting the likes of you two get anywhere near me sickens me to no end! I don't even have an accent! And furthermore – "

The temporarily-white Lamborghini twin smirked, mouthing along with everything Ratchet was saying. It was obvious he'd heard the lines – or very similar ones – before.

"Identity theft is not a joke, Sideswipe! Millions of mechs suffer through it every vorn!"

"PRIME!" Sideswipe called and stormed off, much the way the medic would.

Ratchet looked extremely angry. "Oh, that's very funny, Sideswipe… PRIME!" And with that, he stormed off after Sideswipe.

Once Jazz finally stopped laughing, he looked over to find Bumblebee staring into space. Impossible! Bee had zoned out and missed the whole escapade?

"Bee! Bee!"

"Wha – ?!" Bumblebee flinched. "Oh, sorry, Jazz, I forgot you were in here. I was just thinking."

Jazz eyed the smaller bot strangely. "You sure you're okay, Bee? Normally you'd be lubricatin' yo'self with laughter after a stint like that."

Bumblebee made an indignant squeak before insisting, "I said before nothing was wrong."

"Yeah, 'cept now I'm not so sure I believe ya. Y'know you can tell me anything, right?" When the yellow mech didn't answer, the Porsche added, " And why'd ya wanna know about me an' Sounds, anyway?"

Bumblebee sighed before deciding this was okay territory to tread. Tentatively, he asked, "Were you… or anyone else… friends with any of the other Decepticons? I mean, they're not so different from us, right?"

"'Sright. With the exception of Mega-fragger, 'Bots and 'Cons are mostly pretty similar. But it's the small differences that make a difference. And as for the other question, you already knew Skyfire worked with Screamer before the war."

"Just you and Skyfire, then."

"Oh, the twins were playmates with Skywarp and Thundercracker when they were all sparklings, but I doubt they'd remember."

"Really?" Bumblebee gasped, before he could stop himself, before he could go to Skyfire and ask about Starscream, which is what he really wanted to know.

"Where'd you think they learned their 'Jet Judo'? Anyway, why're you so concerned about the 'Cons all of a sudden? We haven't heard from them since we kicked Mega-fuck's aft in that last battle."

"No reason," Bumblebee said quickly, rising to leave. Too quickly, and Jazz noticed. "I should really get going – "

"Hold up, l'il buddy. You're not gettin' off that easily. Now sit your aft down and tell me what is going on."

Busted.

The smaller mech sighed and sat back down, defeated. "Remember when I got taken prisoner a couple of Earth-months ago?"

"Yeah. But you've been taken before, and you always escape. And you're safe here, so why the worry?"

"Yeah, but this time was different…"

-_flashback, roughly translated from Cybertronian into English-_

_Bumblebee cursed under his breath, trying desperately and failing miserably to break free of the cords binding him. This time around, his third time as a Decepticon prisoner, Megatron had made _sure_ that the Volkswagen couldn't escape. Not that it would have mattered, the way his legs were damaged. And on top of that, the tires had been popped._

_He felt so _stupid!_ He'd been sure he could take on this mission, but all he had done was let Optimus down!_

"_Who's there?" he asked dejectedly. The footsteps of the mech who had been coming stopped – whoever he was, he hadn't expected the smaller mech to hear him. "Well? Are you gonna taunt me to my face or behind my back?"_

"_I'm not here to taunt you… I didn't know we had any surviving prisoners left…"_

_The voice was quiet, but Bumblebee's optics narrowed when he recognised it._

"_As if Megatron didn't tell you, Starscream. So what do you want with me?"_

"_Why are you so pissed with me? I'm not the one who took you prisoner." The voice was Starscream's, but the usual haughty tone wasn't there._

"_Show yourself," Bumblebee demanded. And when Starscream obliged, stepping out of the shadows, Bumblebee gasped sharply. He hadn't meant to, but… "Your wing…"_

_Starscream limped forward, left wing hanging onto his body by only a few wires, various small dents and scratches littering his frame._

"_You shouldn't be in here. You should be in the Decepticon's Med Bay. So why bother with me?"_

"_I already told you; I had no way of knowing you were in here! That frag-rectifier Megatron doesn't tell me shit. And as if I'd let those Constructi-freaks anywhere near me. They'd probably purposely deactivate me."_

"_But you're second in command, aren't you?"_

"_So what?" Starscream limped closer and reached out to the cords binding Bumblebee._

"_What are you doing?"_

"_Unbinding you – the oil in your systems can't circulate properly with you tied up like this."_

_Surprised at the Decepticon's gentle touch, Bumblebee let Starscream untie him and place him on the ground. But when he saw Starscream remove a first-aid kit from his cockpit, he gasped._

"_Why…?"_

"_You can't escape with a broken leg."_

"_But – "_

"_Shut up before I change my mind!" Ah, there was the arrogant edge in Starscream's voice that Bumblebee was so used to hearing._

_The two sat in silence as the seeker worked on the Autobot's leg. It wasn't near as good a repair as Ratchet would have done, but it was pretty good considering Starscream wasn't trained to be a medic. As soon as the seeker finished and went to attempt to re-attach his wing, Bumblebee stopped him – _

"_Wait. Let me…"_

_Starscream put on an amused smirk, but his optics only shone with a dull sadness. "Why would you want to help me?"_

"_I could ask you the same question. And anyway, I'm just returning the favour."_

_Rather than question this, Starscream just stared at the wall and let Bumblebee re-attach his wing to the best of the small bot's ability._

"_How'd it get so damaged?" Bumblebee asked._

"_That fool Ramjet screwed up an assignment, so I got punished."_

_The Autobot gasped. That made no sense. "But how is it your fault that he screwed up?"_

_Starscream turned his head to give Bumblebee a sneer. "You're joking, right?"_

_Bumblebee shook his head slowly. The seeker turned his head back to face the wall as it had before and continued:_

"_It's _always_ my fault if a lesser Decepticon screws up."_

"_But you're second-in-command. _Every_ Decepticon is lesser, except for – "_

"_Exactly," Starscream cut him off quietly._

_Bumblebee froze. _Megatron_ had done this? "Starscream…" he whispered as the larger mech got up and flexed his newly-attached wing._

"_Not the best, but it'll do fine," the Decepticon commented on the wing job._

"_Starscream," Bumblebee said again. "Why…?"_

"_What?"_

"_Why do you let Megatron do this to you?"_

_Starscream seemed taken aback at first, but then swiftly moved – as swift as anyone with a limp could, anyway – closer to the smaller bot. Maybe a bit too swift, as he accidentally brushed one of Bumblebee's horns with his bottom lip._

"_We're not so different, you and I," Starscream whispered into Bumblebee's audio sensors, then turned to leave. He called over his shoulder, "You better come up with an escape plan before Megatron realises I've helped you."_

"_But what'll happen to you when he realises I've escaped!?"_

_But Bumblebee didn't get an answer. Starscream had left._

-_end flashback_-

"…but you have to _promise_ not to tell anyone, Jazz!" Bumblebee finished telling of his experience.

Jazz looked absolutely bewildered. He had no clue what to say. No wonder the smaller bot had been so confused!

"Promise me!"

"Alright, alright! I promise, Bee! But y'know, _you_ should really tell Prime. And Ratch may want to know who it was that got to your leg befo' he did… What d'you think Screamer meant by all that, anyway?"

"I dunno," Bumblebee sighed. "That mech is a walking, talking contradiction. I can't pin him down. And every time I think about it, I feel so guilty. I hope Megatron didn't hurt him too badly… he wasn't in the last battle, you know…"

Jazz searched for the right words for a few breems before saying, "Well, at any rate, I'm pretty sure he sees himself in you, which is probably why he rescued you. I can't think of any other reason."

"Why do you say that?"

" 'We're not so different'," Jazz quoted. "And he's right. Believe it or not, Screamer's the youngest of the 'Cons, not counting the Casseticons. I think Megatron took him in the same way Prime took you in."

"Megatron is nothing like Optimus…" Bumblebee muttered darkly.

"No, he isn't. Which is why Starscream is so mentally unstable and you aren't. Makes sense, don't it? Though it still doesn't explain why he kissed you…"

"What!?" Bumblebee got extremely flustered at the Porsche's last remark. "He didn't kiss me! When did I say he kissed me?"

"He 'accidentally' brushed his lips to yo' helmet? Sounds like a kiss to me," Jazz smirked.

"It wasn't!"

Jazz laughed at how the other was protesting so much. "Whatever you say, Bee."

"It _wasn't_!" Bumblebee repeated.

"Okay, okay! Anyway, I'm sure Screamer'll be all right. Or at least as all right as the crazy fragger can be. He's far too proud to let anything too terrible happen to him. Much like yo'self, actually."

"Shut up! I'm not _that _arrogant…" the yellow mech muttered, smiling despite himself. Jazz was right. That wouldn't be the last they'd see of Starscream.

_-fin_-

**Well? What'd you think? I know the plot was sketchy and all, but who knows? This may end up being more than a one-shot! Or not. Anyway, reviews would be much appreciated. Tell me what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

**So I know I said this was gonna be a one shot. And it was. That first chapter was based on a dream I had, and that was it. Finished. Done. Kaput. Thing is, I had another dream that seemed to be in the same universe. Thus, this chapter shall get written up! Haha! I wonder what my subconscious is trying to tell me… probably that I spend too much time looking at fanart of giant robots on deviantArt.**

**I very much like crack!pairings in this fandom, just so you know. Screw Megatron x Optimus Prime! Screw Prowl x Jazz! (Though, I must admit, I'm a sucker for Ratchet x Twins…) Give me Screamer x Bee, or Soundwave x Jazz, or Seekers x Soundwave, or Megatron x Perceptor! MWAHA! And thus, you shall see hints of such pairings in this, though Starscream and Bumblebee will be the only official pairing. Damn straight, yo. Unless you all like Ratchet x Twins, or Soundwave x Jazz… Then I could make them official, instead of "well, maybe I can kinda sorta see it, if I squint…"**

**I have no ownage.**

**--**

The disappearance of the Decepticons hadn't lasted long, Bumblebee noted as he waited to speak with Optimus Prime in the leader's private quarters about something… odd…

It had happened in a recent battle between the Autobots and Decepticons. Being small, Bumblebee had been fighting Rumble. Now he was just out of med bay, having gotten dents pounded out (as anyone who had gone one-on-one with Rumble would be bound to do), remembering the strange turn of events…

-_flashback_-

_It hadn't taken long for Rumble, with his special abilities, to get Bumblebee pinned._

"_Prepare to be crumbled by Rumble, shrimp!" Bumblebee couldn't remember if these were the exact words, but it sounded corny enough to be something Rumble would say. Anyway, the _last_ part was right._

"_Shrimp!? I'm taller than you are!" Bumblebee said, struggling to free himself, though it wasn't working very well. With one hand, Rumble opened one of the doors to Bumblebee's chest, and he transformed his free arm into one of those _things_, intending to crush Bee… but stopped._

"_You're…" Rumble had said, backing away slowly. He had looked horrified._

"_What?" The yellow mech asked. First Starscream, now this?_

"…_my brother…" the Casseticon pointed to Bumblebee's door handle, which had Cybertronian characters carved into it. Though the Volkswagen could speak Cybertronian, he had only begun learning to read it when the war had broken out. However, as far as he could tell, Rumble had the same symbols carved into his shoulder…_

_-end flashback-_

"Bumblebee?" Optimus Prime's voice snapped the yellow mech out of his flashback. Jazz and Prowl were there also – one of them was always at Prime's side, after all. "You wanted to see me?"

"Who are my parents?" Bumblebee asked bluntly, not even bothering to sugarcoat it. "Who built me?"

"I…" the Autobot leader was taken aback. He hadn't been expecting this. "I don't actually know. You were so young when I found you, and all alone."

"But I wasn't built for the sake of the war, like the Casseticons or Dinobots, so I had to have had parents. Real ones. Right?"

Optimus Prime and Prowl exchanged looks, and Jazz looked awfully nervous.

"Optimus? Prowl? Jazz?"

"Maybe it's high time I explained it to ya…" Jazz muttered in reply, surprising the others. "Bee, you only started wonderin' after ya battled Rumble, right?"

"Yeah."

"That's what I thought…" the Porsche sighed. "Well, y'know how before the war, mechs and femmes in love could purchase assembly kits to make young sparklings? But some mechs – Wheeljack and Ratchet are like this – can make them from scratch. An' these mechs don't necessarily have to be bond mates."

"I know all that," Bumblebee pouted indignantly.

"Lemme finish, li'l guy. Often those mechs 'sign' the mechs they've made. That's what Rumble pointed out to you on yo' handle."

Prowl looked, then let out – accidentally – a small gasp.

"What's it say?" Optimus Prime asked.

"It says 'Soundwave'…" Prowl muttered, shocking the yellow mech and the Autobot leader. If he could, Bumblebee would have gotten pale. It couldn't be – _Soundwave_ was his father?

"But you weren't at the battle, Jazz," Optimus suddenly remembered. "How did you know?"

Prime was right! Bumblebee turned to Jazz expectantly, and the Porsche looked strangely sad.

"I knew… cos I was there with Sounds…"

"You don't mean – " Prime began, but was cut off:

"'Fraid so, Prime. Bumblebee… I'm so sorry you had to find out this way… I'm your father. Me and Sounds both."

Right then, Bumblebee wished that Rumble _had_ crushed him. Not knowing what to say, and feeling his spark drop immensely and painfully, the smaller transformed and sped away as fast as his wheels could go. He didn't know where he was going. He didn't care.

Both Optimus Prime and Prowl turned to say something to Jazz, but were cut off by the screams of a very angry Ratchet towards the twins…

--

Bumblebee rolled for a long time, out of the Autobot base and into the desert. If the Decepticons had attacked him, he wouldn't have even fought back. Luckily they didn't.

"GAAAH!" he transformed back into robot mode and began pounding on the ground. It was so cruel of Primus to give mechs emotions but make them unable to cry, because that's what he felt like doing. Instead, he just screamed – not even words, just screams – and punched the ground over and over until he finally calmed down a bit.

"Are you done yet?" a voice caused Bumblebee to jump. He looked around wildly before his optics focused on the last mech he expected to see. And not looking too good, either.

"Starscream? What are you doing here? What happened to you?" Immediately after asking the last question, the smaller mech felt like an idiot. The Decepticons had lost their last battle. Which meant the wounds Starscream was sporting – thank Primus they were minour this time – were because of Megatron. However, all Starscream said was:

"Don't ask questions tonight. It's touch and go…"

"What? But Starscream…"

"No one ever got hurt from what they don't know."

Here, Bumblebee snorted. "That's a load of shit if I ever heard one." Starscream looked at Bumblebee strangely, not asking the smaller to elaborate, but rather, expecting it. The Autobot obliged, "I just learned that the Casseticons are my brothers."

"Really?" the seeker seemed shocked. "No wonder you were so angry. I'd hate to learn that frag-rectifier Soundwave was my maker. Thank Primus I don't know mine."

"You aren't even curious?"

"Even if I were, Skywarp and Thundercracker won't tell me. And I don't want to even try to ask Megatron."

"That's not even the worst part. Soundwave didn't make me by himself. Guess who my other father was."

"I _despise_ guessing games," Starscream rubbed a dent in his arm, then winced from the soreness.

"Jazz," Bumblebee didn't even appear to hear the other. Until Starscream burst out laughing. "Starscream! Stop it!"

"Soundwave… and… Jazz!?" the seeker choked out between laughter, then suddenly stopped, clutching his cockpit. "Primus, it hurts to laugh."

"Serves you right. It's not funny."

"Yes it is. And why would that be the worst part, anyway? At least Autobot Jazz has been watching over you all these vorns, making sure you didn't get hurt, even if he never came clean to you. Which is more than I can say for myself, or any of the Decepticons aside from your accursed brothers."

Bumblebee gasped, realising the other was right. "I'm so sorry… That was selfish of me… I didn't think…"

Starscream smirked. "You're cute when you're not being annoying, you know."

Cute!? Starscream thought he was _cute_!? "What the frag is that supposed to mean?"

"Anyway," the seeker ignored his question, "it's fine. You feel abandoned, lied to, am I right? I think you need to talk to Jazz if it bothers you so much."

"You're right."

"Of course," the seeker interrupted the younger, who was at least smart enough to pretend not to notice.

"But I just can't. Not when I stormed out like that. Not yet."

"As if I were going to let you leave me yet. I appreciate the company of someone who talks to me without insulting me."

"If you hate the Decepticons so much, why stay with them?"

"That's a stupid question," was the only reply Starscream would give.

"Can I ask you something?" Bumblebee said, suddenly remembering their last encounter.

"I'd prefer if you didn't, but it never stopped you before."

"Did you… um…" Here, the Volkswagen's voice got quiet and almost inaudible. But Starscream still heard, "…kiss me?"

The seeker looked amused. "Maybe. Did you want me to?"

"Seriously!" Bumblebee exclaimed, embarrassed that he'd even brought it up.

Starscream moved quickly, pinning the yellow Autobot down and moving his head so that their mouths were only a centimetre apart. "I _am_ being serious, Bumblebee."

"You did, didn't you?"

"Mm-hm," the seeker replied, moving down that last centimetre.

Bumblebee's optics widened. The Decepticon second-in-command, battered and bruised as he was, was kissing _him_! And, he hated to admit it, doing a damn good job too. So good that even after he stopped, the smaller mech just sat there in a daze for a few breems before finally asking:

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"I'm an Autobot."

"You're Soundwave's son."

"But even before…"

Starscream looked at the other sadly before saying, "You're lucky, you know?" It wasn't meant to be arrogant, as in he was lucky that the seeker would even consider him. It was more as if the seeker were comparing his life to Bumblebee's and finding the younger mech's to be much more favourable. Which it probably was. But Bumblebee couldn't ask for sure, because the other had already transformed with a whimper of pain and flown off.

Bumblebee briefly wondered why Starscream felt the need to end all their encounters with a cryptic comment. But then he realised it was dark, and decided now was as good a time as any to return to Autobot HQ.

--

"'Sup, Bee?" Sideswipe greeted him upon his return. Sunstreaker too. The two would have waved, but were tied to a stalagmite at the moment – probably Ratchet's revenge for whatever they had done earlier.

"Hi guys," Bumblebee smiled wearily. The twins weren't fond of many other Autobots, save for Optimus, Jazz, Ironhide, and (secretly) Ratchet. They absolutely _hated_ Cliffjumper and Gears. But, for reasons nobody fully understood, they liked Bumblebee.

"You look like shit," Sunstreaker said oh-so-nicely. "Are you in trouble too?"

"No," he answered, though he really wasn't sure. He could be in trouble for storming out, not even saying where he was going.

"Yeah, well, you better check in if you want to keep it that way," Sideswipe added. "Prime went nuts looking for you after you took off."

"Is he mad?" Bumblebee immediately felt awful.

"I don't think so," Sideswipe answered at the same time Sunstreaker said, "He didn't look it."

"Yeah, he looked more worried than mad."

"Alright, I'll go find him. Thanks guys," Bumblebee said.

"No problem, Bee. And, uh ,wanna untie us?" Sideswipe asked sheepishly. His twin added:

"Please do! I don't even want to think about what these cords are doing to my paint!"

"Uh, sure," the smaller mech obliged simply because he liked being on the twins' good side and he wanted to keep it that way. "Since you're untied and all, how about you two go find Prime for me? I need to talk to Jazz more. It's urgent."

"Will do, Bee!"

"Thanks again," Bumblebee ran off in search of his Autobot father. However, about a half-an-hour later, he was flabbergasted when he couldn't find him.

"You Bumblebee look for someone?" the deep voice shocked the young mech.

"Grimlock! Where is Jazz?"

"Him Jazz drive out. Look for you Bumblebee." The Dinobot shrugged.

Bumblebee gulped. Uh-oh…

-_To Be Continued_-

**It's a little shorter. You'll live. I packed a lot in, didn't I? Reviews would be nice!**

**On another note, are there stalagmites in volcanoes?**


	3. Chapter 3

**This is fun! Whee!**

**As for Grimlock's presence, the only explanation I can offer is I wanted to try writing his unusual speech pattern. I thought it'd be fun. So would that one annoying insecticon (I think he was called Schrapnel) who feels the need to repeat the last word in every sentence, sentence. (And sometimes he repeats two words, two words.) Except I hate him too much. Grimlock is tolerable, though.**

**Disclaimer from the previous chapters still applies.**

--

Bumblebee stared incredulously at the Dinobot for a few seconds, before he decided to speak. "Jazz took off after me? But, why?"

"How should me Grimlock know!? Nobody ever tell me Grimlock anything."

"No, I mean why didn't he just try to contact me through our radios or something, like usual?"

"You Bumblebee have comm.-link turned off."

With a gasp, Bumblebee realised that he _did_ in fact have his comm.-link switched off. He didn't remember shutting it off, but realised he must have shut it off subconsciously. It made sense. Quickly, he switched it on and tried desperately to connect to his newfound father.

"Jazz? Where are you?"

"_Bee? I should be askin' you the same question! Ya scared us, just takin' off like that." _The saboteur's voice sounded way raspier than usual – Bumblebee briefly wondered if one of their radios were damaged.

"I'm sorry. I guess it was just too much to take."

"_Hasn't anyone ever told you how _mean_ it is ta run away?_"

"Shut up! Anyway, I said I was sorry. And I didn't think! Look, I'm safe – I got back to HQ fine, I didn't get into any trouble with the Decepticons…" That last part wasn't _technically_ a lie, the yellow mech told himself before he got a chance to feel guilty.

"_Not even yo' seeker boy toy?"_

Suddenly, inexplicably, the Volkswagen broke out into a huge grin, forgetting that he was supposed to tell Jazz about how abandoned he'd felt. For some reason, only now was Starscream's kiss starting to affect him – and now that it had, he couldn't stop smiling.

"_Bee? You still there?_"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, Uh… I'm still here. Are you on your way back?"

"_Only a few breems away. You did see Screamer, didn't you?"_

"Wh-what? Why do you say that?" Bumblebee chuckled nervously, then cursed himself. Primus, he was being so _obvious_! And the fact that Jazz was his father just made it all the weirder…

"_Fo' one thing, ya stuttered when I asked. What'd he do?"_

Having never had a real father before, the yellow mech answered the way he would have if Optimus had asked. And if the Autobot leader asks one something, one has no choice but to look into his kind, blue optics and answer honestly.

"He told me I was cute. And…" here, a tad embarrassed, he lowered his voice, "he kissed me…"

Expecting Jazz to congratulate him or something (It's was what Sparkplug would have done to Spike, and besides that, it seemed a very Jazzy thing to do), Bumblebee was surprised at the older mech's reply:

"_Uh, just be careful if yo' gonna get mixed up with a Decepticon, mm'kay?"_

"Oh, um… I will be… assuming we meet again off the battlefield."

"_And on the battlefield, don't let him distract you from our cause._"

"I'm not a stupid sparkling; I already know that, Jazz. Dad. What do I even call you?"

"_My name is just fine. I'm not sure if I want the others to know yet. They may start pryin' to see if ya have another parent, and that'd just cause trouble."_

"'Kay."

--

Somehow, the rocky desert area where they had first kissed became a meeting place for Bumblebee and Starscream. It wasn't as covered as they would have liked, but they both figured it'd be temporary. Besides, it made sense. None of the Autobots knew where it was. And none of the Decepticons expected Starscream to waste his free time anywhere on the disgusting planet known as "Earth."

So for now, the two were safe.

When it was just the two of them, the war didn't exist. They ignored the Autobot and Decepticon insignias marking their forms, and neither tried to learn any plans of the other's faction. In fact the closest they ever got was Bumblebee insisting that Starscream deserved so much better than what Megatron was giving him.

To which Starscream replied eloquently, "That's why I have you as my bitch."

"How did you even get up to second-in-command, anyway?"

"Surely you think such a high rank suits me?"

Starscream never answered the question, no matter how many times it was asked. Bumblebee wondered if he didn't know. But even as an Autobot, he had to admit Starscream _was_ skilled. And smart – much smarter than Megatron, though not half as strong. (Bumblebee guessed it was because the other had been a scientist.) Perhaps even Megatron recognised this skill, though this did nothing to explain how poorly the seeker was treated. Maybe Megatron really was insane.

This wasn't all they talked about. Sometimes they talked about life back on Cybertron, and it was only during these conversations that Bumblebee remembered just how young Starscream really was. The other one had been forced to grow up so fast…

"You honestly don't remember anything before joining the Decepticons?"

"I remember working with that traitor Skyfire. I'd just graduated from the science academy. But everything else is gone to me. Megatron probably had the Constructicons extract it from my CPU, the fragger."

Once, the yellow mech attempted to instigate a conversation on what his lover – he hated that word, lover, but what else could Starscream be _called?_ – thought about love.

The seeker didn't think it really existed.

"What about bondmates?"

"Tch. You could force a spark bond with anybody if you were strong enough."

The way the Decepticon said this made Bumblebee shiver. He only hoped that Starscream wasn't speaking from experience. (He was far too afraid to ask.)

And then, one day, Bumblebee asked something that had been bothering him for quite awhile:

"Starscream, what do you really think of me? Honestly, do you only tolerate me because I'm nice to you?"

"Honestly, I think you ask far too many questions."

"Starscream! Seriously!" the younger pouted, which earned a rare chuckle out of the seeker. (Which made Bumblebee automatically forgive him, of course.)

"I'm no good at talking about my feelings. I don't have any, you see."

"You're lying. C'mon, Starscream. I need to know. Why'd you choose me? Please?"

The seeker sighed. Why did the Auto-brat have to _look_ at him like that? And how did _Soundwave_'_s_ son turn out so cute?

"I feel like an idiot telling you. It's too out of character for me. For any self-respecting Decepticon!"

"I won't repeat anything, I swear!" Bumblebee grinned at how flustered the other was getting.

"No, I suppose you wouldn't…" He sighed again, struggling for words. How could he explain it to the expectant Autobot? How could he possibly put in words how much he looked forward to these meetings? How could he find a way to say how absolutely _broken_ he'd felt when he'd seen the other tied up that fateful day, and even before that, how he would always get distracted whenever he saw the bubbled form of a VW bug anytime he was flying? How could Bumblebee ever understand how Starscream felt about him – that he, without trying, had become the seeker's _everything_?

He settled on, "Without my good looks and superior skills, you're basically all I have."

Bumblebee pushed him, and because he hadn't been expecting it, he toppled over, laughing, and somehow managing to pull the other down on top of him.

"I was kidding," Starscream told the other, who was now also laughing, unable to stay mad at the seeker. "Primus, Bumblebee… I'd jump in front of my own missile for you… You're my everything."

"Really?" Bumblebee seemed shocked. He'd never been that important to anybody before, being much too small to really be of any real value in his opinion.

"Told you it was stupid."

"Yeah," Bumblebee agreed. "It kinda was."

"Shut up," Starscream reached up and grabbed the yellow mech's horn, pulling the other's head down to meet his own in a kiss. Really, kisses were useless things, and the seeker never understood why he felt the need to even try such a meaningless display of affection. Until he looked in Bumblebee's optics – then it all made sense to him until they parted and it again became nonsensical.

It made the seeker's head spin. But he wouldn't have had it any other way.

-_TBC_-

**These chapters keep getting shorter and shorter. And as if that weren't bad enough, it's painfully obvious how bad of a romance writer I am. Figures. Ah, well. What business is it to any of you where I end the chapters anyway? Besides, that was a good ending. And if I never update again (It happens with some of my stories.), at least I didn't end on some sort of horrible cliffhanger.**

**Of course, that won't happen, cos I've already typed up to chapter eight. Haha, aren't you jealous? I know what happens and you don't! And I REFUSE to upload the next chapter til I get a sufficient amount of reviews! Mwahaha!**

**I'm thinking of changing my pen name. I've had the same one for years, and the inside joke from which it was derived from doesn't apply anymore. So don't be alarmed if the name of the author suddenly changes soon, okay?**


	4. Chapter 4

**This chapter is gonna be hard to write, since it involves a bit more mature themes than I'm used to at the beginning… Oh well.**

**If the idea of Starscream doing, erm, **_**icky**_** things to Soundwave bothers you, than the first scene is skippable. But I like them together, almost as much as Screamer x Bee, which is my favourite pairing in the fandom. I'm the author and can do what I want and you'll live!**

**Besides, from an artistic point of view it's a nice contrast to how I ended last chapter. And it'll be important later. There IS a reason for it! You'll see in a couple chapters!**

**I own nothing.**

--

Starscream smirked defiantly as he sat on Megatron's throne, contemplating what he was about to do.

"You better get down, Screamer!" Skywarp said from the floor, which he was cleaning as punishment for some offence Starscream didn't care to find out about. "If Megatron finds out you were sittin' there, he'll have your head delivered to him on a golden plate by his bitch Soundwave."

"Shut up! And stop calling me that stupid nickname! When Megatron isn't around, I'm in charge! _I'm_ in charge!" It was true – Megatron was currently carrying out "business" on Cybertron with the mech Starscream considered to be the Decepticon leader's true bitch, Shockwave.

Though, hearing Skywarp mention the indigo cassette player reminded Starscream that he, too, had _business_ to attend to…

--

"Soundwave," he addressed the cassette player, who was currently working on some datapads. If Soundwave were surprised, he didn't show it. "I know something you don't know," Starscream teased.

Though Soundwave made no movement, Starscream could immediately feel the skilled telepath probing his mind. Soundwave's one weakness was that, though he'd never admit it, he couldn't stand being out of the loop. However, Starscream was just as smart, and knew that as long as he didn't think about what he was keeping from Soundwave, the tape deck couldn't get the much-desired information.

"Ah, ah," the seeker taunted. "You don't think I'd let you figure it out that easily, do you? I thought you were smarter than that, Soundwave."

Soundwave finally stood and turned to face Starscream, still saying nothing.

"That's better," Starscream smirked, lunging at the shocked cassette player, quickly removing his battle mask, and ignoring the guilt as he forcibly kissed the indigo mech.

"Why?" Soundwave pushed Starscream off, causing the seeker to smirk. It was rare that Soundwave actually asked a direct question.

"I have my reasons," Starscream proceeded to move his moth down to the other's neck, gnawing as he let his hands do the rest of the work. However, when one finger brushed against the cassette player's "Play" button, both the seeker's wrists were swiftly grabbed and held strongly in the air.

"Access denied," Soundwave stated simply, causing the seeker to scowl.

"All work and no play makes you a dreadful bore," the second-in-command tried unsuccessfully to pull his hands away. "Let me go."

"Request denied. Information first."

Not wishing to oblige, Starscream thrusted upwards, and, before the other could object, pushed the "Play" button with his hip.

"Aah!" Soundwave gasped, obviously not expecting that, and let Starscream go. The seeker suppressed laughter – he had _never_ heard the normally monotone tape deck make that kind of noise – and pinned the other down on the floor.

"Interesting," Starscream started kissing the indigo mech again, pressing the button a second time, and purposely letting his fingers linger on the spot. Guilt aside, he was rather enjoying making the elder mech tremble. He could tell the other was nervous – Soundwave would never be able to wrap his one-track mind around such illogical behaviour. Which is precisely why Starscream had chosen to do it.

"Th-this does not compute!" Soundwave choked out.

"Doesn't it?" the seeker's permanent smirk grew. "Then let's see how well it _computes_ if I do… this…" he unlatched a compartment in his cockpit, releasing blue wires meant for interfacing. He could tell that Soundwave was getting worked up, "hot and bothered," if you will.

"Starscream," the indigo mech tried desperately to cool down his CPU. There had to be a more logical way to react to this. Even he recognised that Seekers were attractive mechs, and to have one as experienced as Starscream performing such _illogical_, but somehow still so _pleasant_ acts…

"Aah!" he gasped again. Curses! He had gotten so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he'd failed to notice the young seeker plugging in to one of his more _sensitive _ports. "No."

"No? Don't try to say you won't want me, Soundwave. I'm no telepath, but I can tell the difference between arousal and – hey!" he was cut off as the elder rolled over, pinning him down. He'd forgotten Soundwave was so strong, as the other rarely fought. He usually had his cassettes fight for him. "Not fair!" he shouted, suddenly shuddering as the cassette player moved over him – where had he learned _that_?

"Starscream: inferior. Soundwave: superior." The other choked out between gasps and grunts that Starscream wished he could record to laugh at later.

"Do you like being on top with Megatron too? Or is this an honour solely reserved for myself?"

"I wish to know why you are called 'Screamer'."

"Ooh," Starscream cooed, smirking again, subconsciously bringing his hips up to meet the other's movements. "I didn't know you knew how to talk dirty," he pulled the other down to kiss him again, and they didn't talk for the rest of the time they were interfacing, though noises _were_ made.

However, just after he overloaded – and Soundwave wasn't too far behind – an image flashed into the seeker's mind: how hurt would Bumblebee be if he ever found out what Starscream had done with his _maker_.

Soundwave gave a final shudder, than placed all his cords back into his rightful places and went back to work as if nothing had happened. He had extracted the information he wanted. Starscream cursed himself, lying exhausted on the floor.

--

It was a few days later, and Bumblebee was out for a drive with Spike. Normally, the human would be questioning the Volkswagen's odd behaviour in recent weeks, but Spike was too interested talking about _Carly_ to even notice that maybe Bumblebee, of all mechs, had someone for his own.

Not that he'd actually _tell_ Spike that his someone was the Decepticon second in command, of course.

Despite the fact that he'd heard enough about Carly to last him vorns, Bumblebee was actually having a good time. Until he heard a roar overhead that nearly shattered his audio receptors.

"Whoa!" Spike yelped. "What the hell was that?"

"Thundercracker…" Bumblebee recognised the sonic boom. _'Why the frag is _he_ here?'_ He turned around to hurry back to the Autobot base when something suddenly appeared in front of him. Bumblebee skidded to a stop, sending an S.O.S. over his comm.-link to any nearby Autobots.

"Well. What do we have here?" Skywarp smirked, Thundercracker landing behind him. "Where are you headed in such a hurry, Ladybug?"

Bumblebee pushed Spike out gently and transformed. "Spike, run," he instructed quietly, and then said louder to the seekers, "It's _Bumblebee_."

"And here I thought all the femmes were dead, eh, TC?"

"I'm not a femme," the yellow Autobot did his best to stay calm. Skywarp was teasing him on purpose, or else he'd be dead already – he didn't have a chance against _one_ seeker all by himself, never mind two!

"Coulda fooled me. Your seats are pink."

"They were red before the Earth's sun faded them…" the Autobot muttered sheepishly in his defense. He _really_ needed to get his interior materials replaced. "What do you two want?"

Without warning, Skywarp warped again so that he was directly behind the bug, then before Bumblebee had a chance to react, he picked the other up. "Hey, TC, catch!" he tossed the smaller mech to his partner.

"Missed," Thundercracker shrugged, not even making the effort to catch Bumblebee. Instead, he just watched him hit the ground, then walked over and calmly put a foot on the bug's shoulder so he couldn't move. "I never liked that game as a sparkling, anyway. Always preferred kick the can," with that he kicked the Autobot beneath him.

"Wh-what could you p-possibly be gaining from this?" Bumblebee sputtered. Primus, that had _hurt_!

"If nothin' else, stress relief," Skywarp answered nonchalantly, joining Thundercracker's "game".

This went on for what seemed to Bumblebee like an eternity. And what made it worse was that he knew they were going _easy_ on him. He felt so weak. After all, he was a spy, not a warrior! He squeezed his optics shut, bracing himself for another kick, this one dangerously close to his face…

…nothing came.

Opening his optics to look around, he saw Ravage pinning Thundercracker down by his wings – Bumblebee knew from his time with Starscream that they were the most sensitive part of a seeker's body. Skywarp had, of course, warped away at the first sign of danger. The Volkswagen sat up, weakly massaging his sore spots.

"Soundwave," Thundercracker growled. The name made Bumblebee gasp, and look – to see his maker standing calmly.

"You went against orders."

"Orders? What orders? Who cares if 'Warp and I kick around a little Auto-brat like him?"

"You went against orders," Soundwave repeated. Frozen with fear, Bumblebee wondered if it had been just him, or had he detected a growl in the cassette player's voice? "Ravage," the tape deck called back the panther-like mech, who glared at the seeker, then backed off.

Ego bruised, Thundercracker flew away.

Bumblebee threw the arm that hadn't been damaged by the seekers up to his face in defense. Aside from Megatron, Soundwave was the most intimidating Decepticon – father or not!

Soundwave calmly walked towards his son and gently ran his fingers over the damaged arm.

"Stupid frag-rectifiers," Rumble ejected himself, staring at Bumblebee's arm and making the Volkswagen uneasy.

"Rumble: language."

"Well, it's what they are…" the casseticon said sheepishly. "Frenzy said it first…"

"Did not!" a voice called from Soundwave's chest cavity.

The indigo mech moved his hand to where his name was carved on the door handle.

"He was correct…" the tape deck muttered to himself, then asked, "You knew about this?"

"Sorry," Bumblebee looked away, not knowing what he was apologising for. This was incredibly weird for him.

"He ain't talkin' to you!" Rumble exclaimed, then turned to his maker. "I meant to tell you, Boss. Honestly."

Bumblebee was a little surprised that Rumble didn't call Soundwave "Dad", but then again, he supposed it was because they were Decepticons.

"Permission to repair damage," Soundwave requested.

"Huh?" the Autobot was taken aback. "Uh, sure. But… Why…?"

"He made you; he can repair you," Rumble shrugged, then smirked. "He can make you faster! Stronger! More powerf– ow!"

Ravage had pawed his cassette "brother" in the head. Despite himself, Bumblebee snorted.

"What're you laughing at?" Rumble demanded.

"You," Bumblebee forced himself not to sound afraid. He had no reason to be afraid. He was Rumble's older brother, and Soundwave didn't seem hostile. The tape deck had even saved him! "Why'd you save me, anyway?"

Ravage and Rumble both turned to Soundwave expectantly. The elder simply continued working, then dropped the yellow mech's arm. He worked _fast_!

"I didn't realise you were the same sparkling I had to leave behind. I'd thought an Autobot had killed him. Jazz thought otherwise."

Though it was the most he'd ever heard Soundwave say, Bumblebee still found it incredible that the tape deck had the ability to tell basically anything with as little words as possible.

So _that_ was what must have happened! Slowly, it dawned on Bumblebee. Back on Cybertron, as a sparkling, he must have gone missing. Soundwave thought he'd been deactivated by an Autobot, and Jazz thought he'd been deactivated by a Decepticon! It explained how such close friends ended up enemies.

"Y-you mean Jazz the _Auto_bot?!" Rumble looked shocked.

Before Soundwave got a chance to reply – that is, _if_ he'd have replied, as Bumblebee couldn't tell – they were interrupted by Spike's voice:

"Bumblebee!"

The Volkswagen turned to see his human friend driving the very Autobot they'd been talking about. Spike jumped out, and Jazz transformed, a look of shock on his face.

"Are you alright?" Spike ran to the yellow Autobot. "What did you do to him, you creeps?"

"What are you yappin' about, fleshbag?" Rumble glared. "We saved him!"

"They did, Spike," Bumblebee placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, reassuring him.

"S-Sounds…" Jazz walked slowly towards the other. Soundwave stood up at his nickname, and Jazz continued. "I don't believe it…"

Soundwave said nothing, but let the Autobot saboteur run a tentative hand over his face-plate, as if he were checking to see if the other were real.

"Well, I'll be!" Jazz broke into a huge grin. "He's grown since you last saw him, eh Sounds?"

"Affirmative," Soundwave replied. "We were incorrect when we fought."

"Well, _I_ figured that out, but ya wouldn't lemme 'splain it to you!"

"I thought Prime killed him."

"Prime _saved_ him."

"Jazz, I..." the tape deck began, but was interrupted by the flesh-creature:

"We should go," Spike interrupted the two, not wanting it to get any more weird. "I have a date, and Bumblebee should probably check in with Ratchet, just in case."

"Heh. Right. See ya around, Sounds!" Jazz transformed and headed toward Autobot HQ, Bumblebee and Spike close behind.

Watching them leave, Rumble commented, "That was weird."

-_TBC-_

**Poor Soundwave. I wonder what he was going to say to Jazz?**

**No Screamer x Bee fluff this chapter. Sad. And I'm sure I failed miserably at writing a convincing seduction. Or violent scene. Or reunion. Maybe I just fail at life. Maybe you should review. Yes?**


	5. Chapter 5

**I was going to wait til next Monday to put this chapter up, but... I don't know if I'll be home next week...**

**Yay for more Screamer x Bee scenes ahead! Except... someone dies in this chapter. Not a major character, but still. Sorry about that. Oh well. If it makes you feel any better, you'll probably miss the death if you blink.**

**I do NOT own!**

**--**

The yellow mech dragged himself from under the pile of dead mechs. His legs were absolutely crushed! His comm.-link was damaged too. But he was alive! Oh, thank Primus, he'd _survived_ such a large fight between the Autobots and Decepticons.

He had been left behind.

Bumblebee knew better than to take it personally. After all, he'd probably been assumed dead. But at least he was conscious. In excruciating pain, and unable to transform into his alt-mode, but conscious.

He surveyed the damage. There were a lot of bodies, both human and mechanic. That had been one hell of a fight! Bumblebee got the feeling that Ratchet would be overworking himself for megacycles trying to heal any Autobots lucky enough to survive.

And then his audio sensors picked up – cat meowing? Whimpering? What _was_ that?

He dragged himself to the source of the noise and found Starscream – looking worse than Bumblebee had ever seen him. And Bumblebee got the feeling that those _weren_'_t_ battle wounds.

"Starscream?"

At the sound of his name, the seeker yelped and tried to transform. Failing to do so, he jumped in the air, preparing to blast off – and made a rather ungraceful landing a few metres away. Bumblebee winced. Poor Starscream!

"Starscream, please. Don't damage yourself any more than you already are. It's just me, Bumblebee."

"Bumble… Bee…" Starscream whispered hoarsely. "Just… Go. Leave me."

"I can't leave you in this condition!" the yellow mech insisted. "Let me help! I'm not a medic, but you'll die if you don't at least let me patch you up!"

Starscream shook his head. "I don't deserve… to be fixed."

Bumblebee felt a tug in his chest cavity. "Starscream, don't you dare think that, for one second! Don't listen to Megatron! Starscream, please…"

"It's true."

"It's _not_ true!"

"It is… I did something horrible to you and you… have no idea…"

Bumblebee blinked in shock. "Wh-what? C'mon, it can't be that bad."

"I interfaced with… Soundwave…"

The yellow mech stared at his injured lover, frozen with shock. _What_? However, he had no time to be mad, as Starscream flopped over in front of him, unconscious. Though the Autobot was hurt, it would have to wait – the Decepticon second in command's vital systems were failing. Bumblebee only knew of one mech who could save him. He reached over and grabbed a nearby Autobot corpse – ignoring the extreme sadness he felt that it was a fellow minibot, Windcharger – and used the comm.-link to contact Autobot HQ.

"Prowl? Jazz? Ratchet? Optimus? Is anyone there?"

"_Primus, Bumblebee! You're alive!"_

"Jazz!" Bumblebee was relieved. Jazz could help; Jazz understood. "Jazz, you need to get Ratchet down here any way you can. Kidnap him if you have to! But no one else can know!"

"_Bee, what's gotten into ya?"_

"Jazz, please… Starscream is dying and I can't save him… I just don't know what to do…"

--

Though it took a lot of work, Jazz and Bumblebee convinced Ratchet to sneak the Decepticon into his med bay, hiding the seeker in a supply closet when other Autobots were around. Ratchet wasn't too happy to learn Bumblebee was in a relationship with a Decepticon, but promised not to tell Optimus when he saw the look in the younger Autobot's optics. The medic had always had a soft spot for the small, yellow mech.

And a couple weeks later, Starscream opened his optics, automatically wishing he hadn't.

"Slag it…" he cursed, squinting at the brightness. "Am I dead?"

"No, but I should have killed you when I had a chance!" the loud voice made Starscream cower, before he caught himself and regained his composure… and his sight.

Ratchet looked shocked at the seeker's reaction. He yelled at a lot of his patients, but no one had ever reacted with such fear. Jazz, standing beside the medic, was likewise surprised. And Bumblebee, the last mech in the room, looked relieved.

"Starscream… You're alive! Thank you Ratchet!" The yellow mech threw his arms around the bewildered medic.

"Screamer…" Jazz started. Starscream glared at him.

"Don't you dare call me that nickname, Auto-scum, or I'll blast you to bits! When Megatron finds out you've taken me prisoner, he'll – "

"Starscream," Bumblebee cut off his lover. "It's okay. They know."

The seeker looked at the Volkswagen, dumbfounded.

"Starscream," Jazz began again. "You were almost deactivated when we got to ya. But yo' wounds weren't from Autobot guns, were they?"

The seeker gaped at Jazz, then looked away, embarrassed. Bumblebee grabbed his hand, and was mildly surprised to find out Starscream was shaking.

"How long has Mega-fragger been doin' this to you?" the Porsche continued.

Starscream trembled harder, but still didn't answer. He couldn't believe that he was in this situation! Megatron would _really_ be angry!

"Starscream…" Jazz sighed.

"Shut up!" the seeker suddenly burst out in dry, tearless sobs. "Just shut up! What the frag do you know!? You don't fragging know anything! I don't need your stupid pity! I don't want to hear your – mmph!"

Starscream was silenced when Bumblebee jumped up onto the berth and kissed him. Ratchet and Jazz looked on, stoically, as they broke the kiss and Starscream dryly sobbed into Bumblebee's chest, feeling like the biggest fool in the universe. Why was he showing such weakness? Why couldn't he stop?

"It's okay, Starscream," Bumblebee murmured into his audio receptors. "It's okay. We aren't judging you. None of the other Autobots – and certainly none of the Decepticons – know you're here. Jazz already knew about us. And Ratchet saved your life. You deserve so much better than this mindless abuse… Starscream…"

"Maybe we should leave 'em be fo' now, eh Ratch?" Jazz suggested.

"Primus, I need a drink…" Ratchet allowed Jazz to lead him away, leaving Starscream and Bumblebee alone.

Eventually, though it took some time, the seeker calmed down enough to mutter, "Primus, I'm sorry…"

It was a new experience for Bumblebee to hear his usually cocky partner apologising, and doing it so _humbly._

"Why are you sorry? There isn't any reason to be."

"I made a fool of myself in front of your maker and that stupid medic…"

"That's what happens when you bottle up your emotions and tuck them away. I can only imagine how much pent up pain you just released," Bumblebee sighed and nuzzled the newly-repaired cockpit. "Was Megatron trying to kill you?"

"I don't know. Crazy fragger," Starscream spat distastefully.

"Why do you let him hurt you?"

A pause. Then, slowly, "If he does this to me when he likes me… imagine what he'd do if he ever got angry…"

Despite himself, the Volkswagen gasped. Having been raised by the most pacifist mech in the galaxy, Bumblebee couldn't imagine living with that sort of constant fear.

"Then again," Starscream continued, "I imagine it'll be a few orns before I can even get near any of the Decepticons again." When the Autobot looked at him with confusion, he elaborated, "See the scratches on my wings? I got kicked out. Not the first time it's happened though; I just have to wait for Megadong to calm the frag down…"

"What'd the other Decepticons do to get you kicked out?" Bumblebee cursed himself after blurting the question out, but he couldn't help it. He was curious.

"It was my fault this time. We lost a battle, Megatron was kicking me around as usual, and then he made some comment about how I was as useless as… what did he call it? I think it was, 'Prime's pet bug.' With much more cursing, of course. I lost it, and when my null-ray's effects wore off, I was punished."

The yellow mech's eyes sparkled oddly. "You were defending me?"

"Don't look at me like that," Starscream looked away. "You really are just like a sparkling sometimes, you know that?"

Ignoring the seeker's assumed disgust, Bumblebee flung his arms around the seeker and buried his head into the other's chest. "I forgive you for interfacing with Soundwave…"

"Not sure I deserved that, but thanks," Starscream hugged the smaller back.

"Why'd you do it, anyway?"

"Because it's the tactic he would have least expected. Decepticon business," the seeker lied. He didn't want the younger to know he'd told Soundwave. "And besides that, I was… what's the term you called it? Horny?"

The Volkswagen squeaked in surprise. "Wh – what!?"

"Hey, as long as I was gonna frag with his head, I may as well have fun, right? Surely, I deserve that much," Starscream smirked. "And I wasn't about to force myself onto a minibot who isn't even ready!"

Bumblebee frowned at the term "minibot". He didn't really like being called that, and the jet knew it. Minibot – not a sparkling, but not an older mech like Ironhide or Wheeljack.

"It wasn't so long ago you were a minibot, yourself!" he retorted. Starscream scowled, and opened his mouth to argue, always having to have the last word, but froze when he heard the door to the med-bay open. Bumblebee heard the snickers of the twins, no doubt about to pull some prank on Ratchet, and looked up with much anxiety.

"This is gonna be great," Sideswipe smirked at his brother just as Sunstreaker caught a glimpse of – what it looked like to him, anyway – the Decepticon second in command infiltrating the base and taking Optimus Prime's favourite minibot prisoner!

"What the fuck!?" Sunstreaker yelled out at the sight.

"Huh?" Sideswipe turned to face where his twin was glaring. His optics widened. "Starscream! Let him go, you son-of-a-glitch, or we'll make ya!"

Defensively, Starscream lifted his null-ray. "Step any closer and I'll liquefy your inner circuitry!"

The twins exchanged glances, wondering if they really wanted to face Ratchet's wrath after trying Jet Judo in his med-bay. Deciding it wasn't worth the trouble (or damage to Sunstreaker's fresh coat of paint), they took the next-best course of action…

"OPTIMUS!" the two bolted for the leader's private office.

"What!?" Bumblebee released himself from the frazzled seeker's grip and chased after the disaster duo. "Guys, it's not what you think! Guys!"

-_TBC-_

**Oy vey. What have I gotten myself into? This wasn't the direction I originally planned to take. Oh well. I like it anyway. There aren't enough Screamer x Bee stories out there as it is. It wouldn't do you guys any good for my story to be practically the same as the few others, now would it?**

**Bumblebee is too nice for his own good sometimes. If I were in his situation, I'd be pissed. I still have plans for this later, though, so...**

**I just love the twins. (Especially when they're torturing everyone's favourite foul-tempered medic.) I love Soundwave too. And Rumble and Frenzy. Thus why they're sort of **_**good**_** guys (but not really) here. And Wheeljack. I love him too. Especially in that one video on youtube. "I don't even have a mouth, dumbshit." Best Wheeljack line ever. Period.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm afraid this keeps getting worse as it strays further from the outline. Hopefully you all disagree! On an entirely different subject, the first chapter of the prequel, involving Jazz and Sounds (there isn't a lot of room for them in here), is now online! And a lot of people have it on alert lists, but it's starving for reviews! (Don't you just hate that? Oh well.)**

"**Transformers" belongs to Hasbro/Takara. And maybe Marvel, too. Didn't they do the comics? The song "Wonderwall", from which this fic took its title (It's SUCH a Screamer x Bee song!), belongs to Oasis.**

**--**

"OPTIMUS!"

The sudden burst of the Lamborghini twins into his office surprised the leader. Usually someone had a complaint about Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, not the other way around. Not that he could make heads or tails with what either twin was saying, the way both were babbling. Along with Bumblebee, who had followed them in.

Optimus exchanged glances with Prowl, who had been previously going over reports with him, then held up a hand, silencing the three in front of him.

"I can't hear myself think if you're all yelling," Optimus said calmly. "Now, will _one_ of you please tell me the problem?"

"Starscream got into the base! I don't know how, but he did! He was gonna crush little Bee here to death!" Sideswipe exclaimed before anyone else could get a chance.

"What!?" Bumblebee yelped indignantly. "He was not! Optimus, please, let me explain. There's a perfectly good explanation why Starscream was in our med-bay."

"I'm listening," the leader said.

"Perhaps _we_ should be explaining that," Ratchet walked into the office, Jazz close behind.

"You knew, Hatchet?" Sunstreaker gaped at the medic who glared at the twins.

"After we're done here, I want an explanation as to why _you_ two were in my med-bay," was the medic's oh-so-kind reply to the gold mech's question.

"Y'see, Prime," Jazz began, "Ratch, Bee, an' I have good reason to believe that ol' Mega-fucker's been _mistreatin'_ Starscream. When we found him, he was almost deactivated. We were only tryin' to help, like good Autobots should, y'know?"

"Why would you wanna help _that_ jerk?" Sunstreaker snorted, Sideswipe nodding vigorously in agreement.

"Sunny, Sides, maybe you dun realise since life treats you two so well, but nobody deserves the kinda shit that Starscream's been through," Jazz's visor darkened considerably. It was obvious Megatron's abuse sickened him.

"What shit?" Sideswipe didn't seem to notice. "That idiot probably tried to overthrow Megatron again. If I were Mega-freak, I would have smacked Screamer too!"

"Sideswipe!" Ratchet scolded. "Don't talk about things like you know everything when you're absolutely clueless!"

"Are you implying," Prowl began, reminding the others he was there, "that Megatron is _abusing_ Starscream on a regular basis?"

"Mentally, physically, and sexually, for vorns and vorns" Ratchet replied calmly.

"What!? Sexually?" Bumblebee and Jazz gaped at Ratchet. "Why would you say that!?"

"I repaired him. That sort of thing leaves telltale signs."

Though the others couldn't tell, Optimus Prime was absolutely shocked. Floored, even. He'd known Megatron was evil, but to do this sort of thing to his own troops, to his second-in-command… it was too much to wrap his head around. How could one mech be so twisted?

"Please don't kick him out, Optimus," Bumblebee pleaded. "Starscream is arrogant, but he doesn't have anywhere else to go! Megatron will kill him if he tries to come back!"

"He wasn't tryin' to kill him befo'?" Jazz asked darkly.

"I don't believe it," Sunstreaker snorted again. "Why should we believe anything that frag-rectifier tells us?"

"Sunny!" Sideswipe looked at his brother pleadingly. The two got a dazed look in their optics, meaning they were communicating mentally, and after a few breems Sunstreaker gasped, seemingly in horror.

"Now do you get it?" Ratchet looked at the horrified twins coolly.

"And we said such awful things to him…" Sunstreaker cried out to his brother.

"Please don't kick him out!" Sideswipe begged, his brother joining him. The other mechs in the room, save for Ratchet (who was used to it), were amazed at the twins' erratic behaviour. Those two really were something else…

"Optimus?" Bumblebee looked up at the mech he respected so much.

Optimus Prime sighed, then looked at those around him. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe looked about to cry. Bumblebee, too. Prowl and Ratchet looked unemotional, as usual. Jazz looked as disgusted with how Starscream had been treated as Optimus felt. The leader sighed again. He _hated_ Megatron, more than any mech had ever hated anything. If he gave Starscream back to the Decepticon leader, how would that make him any better than what he despised the most?

"Fine." Optimus finally said. "But he is confined to med-bay or one of your rooms at all times, where there are no security camaras. I don't want any of the other Autobots to find out about his presence. _Especially_," he glanced at the twins, "not Bluestreak. Understood?"

--

"…And this is my room," Bumblebee led Starscream into his private quarters. "Optimus said you could sleep here, if you wanted, or in med-bay. Jazz offered his room, too, but I figured that'd be awkward."

"It's small," Starscream sneered at the room's size. This whole _situation_ was awkward. He didn't need the concern of all the Autobots! If it wouldn't have hurt Bumblebee so much, he would have blown Jazz's head off for pitying him.

"Of _course_ it is! I'm not that tall!" Bumblebee insisted, then caught sight of something purple and green on his recharge berth: a data-pad. With the Decepticon insignia on it. "How'd this get in here?"

Starscream snatched it up. "Probably Ravage or Laserbeak or one of them. Slag it, I can't read it. It's coded."

"I-is it from… _him_?" Bumblebee gulped. What would Megatron do if he found out Starscream had been taken in by the Autobots?

"Nah, Megadong doesn't have enough intelligence in his CPU to tell his head from his aft, let alone bother to make up a complicated code. It's most likely from Soundwave."

"Would Skyfire know how to solve it?" the yellow mech asked innocently. Starscream's optics darkened.

"I _don't_ want to ask that traitor!" the seeker yelled shrilly. "I _hate_ him! Never mention him again!"

Bumblebee sighed sadly. Sometimes he forgot how much Megatron's abuse had effected his partner's CPU, so when the lapses in sanity did emerge in Starscream's behaviour, it always saddened him.

Starscream looked at the datapad again, then muttered something.

"What?" Bumblebee asked.

"I said, why don't you ask Jazz?"

"Why didn't I think of that?" The yellow mech turned on his comm.-link. "Jazz? Can you hear me?"

"_Loud an' clear, Bee. What's up? Lover-boy okay?"_

"Stop asking about me! I don't need your pity!" The seeker yelled into Bumblebee's comm.-link, making the younger wince simply because it was so close to his audio receptors.

"_No-one's pitying you, Starscream_."

"There's a note from _your_ 'lover-boy' right here. It's heavily coded. We were wondering if you could decipher it," the seeker snorted disdainfully.

"It's from Soundwave," Bumblebee corrected.

"_Well, I'll be,"_ Jazz didn't seem fazed by how rude the seeker was being. _"In that case, I'll be down there faster than you can say –" _The voice cut off, and the door to Bumblebee's quarters opened.

"– ABC," the saboteur smirked from the doorway. He never needed to knock since he knew all the access codes in the Ark. Starscream tossed the datapad, meaning to hit the Porsche in the face, but Jazz caught it with ease and laughed. It was obvious he was making a huge effort to try and make Starscream feel welcome. It was equally obvious that Starscream would have none of it.

"Can you read it?" Bumblebee asked hopefully.

"Haven't seen this code since our days at the academy," Jazz smirked.

"You went to school with that jerk-off?" the seeker frowned.

"Never would have figured him the type to pass notes in class," the Volkswagen grinned and grabbed Starscream's hand, mentally willing the other to lighten up a bit.

"Yeah, well, he was smart enough not ta get caught," The saboteur's smirk grew. However, his face fell when he read the datapad. Bumblebee felt his spark drop and Starscream's grip on his hand tightened nervously.

"What's it say?" the yellow minibot whispered.

"…I should report this to Prime…"

"Jazz! Just tell us what it says!"

"It's a warning for Starscream. Sounds knows you're here and advises you stay if you value your life. Megatron has fallen. Shockwave has now seized control of the Decepticons."

-_TBC_-

**Ooh! A twist! But not really since, y'know, it happened in the comics. It's also from the comics that Ratchet is rather fond of Bee. I think there was one instance where he fixed Goldbug and reverted him back to Bumblebee, and when Bee questioned it, told him he preferred him this way. Something like that.**


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm not so sure about the direction this is taking, but most of you seem to like it, so… Here you go…**

**Seriously, though, I've gotten way too far from my outline. I have no idea how I'm gonna end this. Suggestions are always welcome? As well as links to deviantArt pictures, since a lot of scenarios in this fic have been inspired by DA...**

**This chapter was originally intended as a one-shot side-story to this fic. But I was lazy and didn't feel like going through that whole "guidelines" thing again.**

**I don't own "Transformers" or Oasis' beautiful song "Wonderwall…**

--

It was a few days later. A few mornings later, actually, as Bumblebee had just woken up and Starscream was still asleep. The seeker, not trusting of anyone else, had recharged in the same berth as Bumblebee for the past few nights. Other than cuddling and the occasional private kiss, of course, they hadn't _done_ anything. (Though Sideswipe and Sunstreaker took every opportunity to tease the minibot about such things anyway.)

Looking up at the face of his sleeping bunkmate, Bumblebee frowned. Starscream's gorgeous features were contorted – he was having another nightmare. Since the news of Shockwave's sudden takeover, the seeker hadn't been sleeping well. He knew there was no way he could return to the Decepticons now, and – he and Ratchet were alike in this aspect – he couldn't stand the fact that he'd worked so hard for nothing.

"Starscream…" Bumblebee whispered into the other's audio sensors. "Starscream, you're having another nightmare…" He smiled as the seeker's facial features smoothed out into a placid, innocent expression that he _never_ would have seen on Starscream if the other were _awake_.

The Volkswagen wriggled out of his partner's arms, preparing to get up – and felt a sudden breeze down by, erm, _those_ wires. Shuddering, he looked down –

And squeaked indignantly. The plating on his codpiece had been removed, leaving the poor yellow mech much more _revealed_ than he would have liked. There were only a few Autobots who knew the code to get into his private quarters, and even fewer that would pull such a stunt…

"Sideswipe and Sunstreaker…" he muttered in realization. "Those fraggers…"

"Hm?"

Bumblebee panicked, curling up into the fetal position as Starscream awoke and lazily kissed him on the forehead.

"Who's a fragger? Why are you hunched up against the wall like that?" the seeker asked groggily.

"N-nobody! No reason! I'm fine!" Bumblebee's voice cracked as he stammered. The other looked at him like he'd just grown tentacles.

"Come on," Starscream reached over and, with clever usage of his hands, urged the other to un-curl himself. "I tell you everything when you're being nosy. It's my turn. What's going on?"

"Y-you do not!" the Volkswagen could feel his internal heat levels rising. He couldn't let Starscream see him like this! "And I already t-told you! I'm fine!"

"Except I didn't ask if you were fine," Starscream smirked, forcefully pulling apart the younger's limbs. He was, after all much stronger.

"No!" Bumblebee squealed as the older mech took him in. Thank Primus he couldn't blush! There was a long, awkward silence, before Starscream said slowly:

"You know… if you wanted to do that… you didn't have to do it to yourself… you could have asked me…"

The yellow mech mentally cursed. He _couldn't_ say that the twins had done this, or Starscream may jump to the wrong conclusion. The exiled Decepticon had enough trust issues without Bumblebee contributing to them.

However, when the seeker began smirking and moving closer, he yelled, "N-no! NO!"

"It's okay, Bumblebee. It's your first time. You're scared," Starscream smiled gently at him. "It's just me. I won't hurt you."

Panicking now, the younger mech yelped, "I said NO!" He wriggled free of the other's grasp and stumbled off the berth. Looking back, and seeing the seeker scowling at him – not a look Bumblebee liked to see – he covered himself and ran out to find the twins.

--

"Damn you two to the PIT!" Bumblebee yelped as he burst into the twins' quarters. It was only mildly surprising that he was able to get in, since they never remembered to lock the door anyway. "Do you two know how much hell it was to get over here without anyone seeing me? Give it back!"

"We don't know what you're talking about," Sideswipe feigned innocence, while Sunstreaker, who was putting a fresh coat of wax on his legs, snickered.

"Oh you do so!" Bumblebee was exasperated. "Give me back my plating before Cliffjumper finds out! Ever since he found out he was taller than me, he hasn't gotten off my back, and I don't think he needs anymore to tease me about!"

"Relax, will ya?" Sideswipe smirked. "Don't you want to make your seeker boyfriend feel more at home?"

"Where's my plating?" Bumblebee growled. "Give it back now."

"What?" Sunstreaker looked at him like he was crazy. "No way! That's too boring!"

"You're too prudish, Bee," the red twin added, then the yellow continued:

"That's why you and Screamer haven't taken the next step."

"You never thought that maybe my _age_ had something to do with that?!"

"Oh, you're only a couple vorns younger than he is. Besides, lots of mechs lose their virginity while in the minibot stage."

"Sideswipe…" the minibot growled again.

Sunstreaker sighed, then tossed over some yellow plating and a screwdriver. "Fine. Be a prude. If it'll shut you up and let me shine myself in peace."

After Bumblebee re-attached his plating, a wave of relief washed over him. "Don't do that again, you two."

"Aw, you're no fun," Sideswipe jumped up. "C'mon, let's all go get some energon before I die of hunger."

--

And so all was well in the Ark. Bumblebee not only had his plating back, but was satisfyingly full and now carrying a cube of energon back to his quarters for Starscream, hoping the other wouldn't have anything to say about that morning.

However, Starscream wasn't there.

"Ooooh," one of the twins' voices behind him caused Bumblebee to jump, dropping the energon. Luckily, it landed top-up and only spilled a little. "He ran off against orders!"

"He's probably holding a grudge," Sunstreaker smirked evilly at the Volkswagen, while Sideswipe grinned widely.

"What? He wouldn't hold a grudge! Not over that… Would he?"

"Well, you _did_ tell him no…" Sunstreaker's voice trailed off, and Sideswipe picked up on it:

"Or maybe this is some kind of strategy – pushing instead of pulling, y'know? He wants you to come crawling back to him!"

"Hey, yeah!" Sunstreaker added. "He's vain enough to pull that kind of thing!"

"_Who's_ vain enough?"

"Shut up, Sides."

"But… he's confined to the quarters of the mechs who know he's here…" Bumblebee muttered, "and my room is the only one he knows the access code to…"

"Don't forget med bay! He's allowed in there, too!" Sideswipe piped up.

"That's right!" the Volkswagen gasped and ran to med bay, the disaster duo following close behind. "Don't you two have anything better to do?" he asked as they were running.

"Nope!"

"Our shifts don't start 'til later!"

The trio ran past a bewildered Ratchet and into the med bay. They knew there wouldn't be anyone in there because Shockwave hadn't arranged any attack yet, and so no one was in need of repairs.

"Starscream!" Bumblebee broke into a smile when he saw that his partner was, indeed, hanging out in med bay.

However, when Starscream looked up and saw it was him, the seeker transformed and flew out of med bay faster than the minibot's eyes could see.

"St-Starscream?" Bumblebee felt his spark drop. "Oh no… he really _is_ angry." He turned to the twins and asked them, "Did I do something wrong? After all we've been through together, are we really gonna break up over one of your guys' stupid pranks?"

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe exchanged looks.

"We're sorry, Bee…"

"Yeah, we only wanted to make you two happy…"

Bumblebee sighed dejectedly and walked slowly away. The twins exchanged looks again, then ran to the side of their minibot friend.

"Aw, c'mon, Bee. Starscream'll come around," Sideswipe placed a hand on the younger's helmet.

"Hey, look," Sunstreaker gestured forward. "Prowlie came out of his office for once."

"Whatever it was, we're innocent!" Sideswipe called to the Datsun.

"Hey, Prowlie, we have a question!" Sunstreaker ran to the Autobot second in command and walked him over to where Sideswipe and Bumblebee were standing.

"I'm not really sure I have the time to – " Prowl began, but was cut off by Sideswipe:

"If you got turned down when you wanted to interface, would you be hurt?"

Prowl stared at the twins before saying, "I'm under no obligation to answer such a ridiculous question."

"But you see, Prowlie –"

"Don't call me that."

"A friend of ours was arguing with their partner over that. We were just wondering if someone like yourself would feel hurt over something like that."

The Datsun stared at the twins, and then, upon seeing Bumblebee looking at the ground like he was wishing it would swallow him, realised what the twins must _really_ be asking. He sighed – he _really_ shouldn't indulge such behaviour – and answered, "Well… a mech would need to work up the courage to ask first, so I imagine it would hurt quite a bit to be rejected."

"Really? You'd be afraid to ask?" Sideswipe looked surprised.

Sunstreaker elbowed his brother lightly, "Good thing we don't ever have to worry about that. No one turns us down! Prowlie, on the other hand, always seems to have a pipe up his aft, so – "

"If I personally got rejected," the Datsun ignored the twins, "it would be humiliating and a little depressing. And if I expected it to happen the next time, I might be embarrassed to try again."

"I never knew you were so _sensitive,_ Prowlie!"

"Sunstreaker, if you call me that one more time…"

But Bumblebee didn't hear what Prowl said next. The events of that morning were playing over and over in his mind. How could he have been so insensitive to poor Starscream's feelings!?

"I gotta go!" the Volkswagen piped up. "Thanks, guys!" He ran to his room, hoping Starscream would listen to him. "Starscream!" he burst in. "I'm sorry!"

Starscream, who was sitting on the recharge berth, looked towards his partner strangely. "For _what_?"

"I didn't mean to make you angry earlier!"

"Oh," the seeker looked sheepish. "_That_. Listen, Bumblebee… can we just forget it? I was thinking about my own feelings, and I just assumed that you… Primus, this is humiliating…"

"No, I'm the one who should be sorry…"

"Don't be. You weren't ready," Starscream smiled up at him with the most _innocent_ looking optics Bumblebee had ever seen on a seeker, sending warmth flooding through the Volkswagen's inner circuitry as his internal fuel pumps pounded hard against his armour.

'_Uh oh…' _Bumblebee thought to himself. _'I think I'm ready now! But there's no way I can _say_ that…'_

"Is something wrong?" the seeker asked sweetly. It was almost out-of-character for him.

_'This must be how he felt this morning…'_

"Uh, Starscream… you see… I want to… you know… with you, Starscream…" he looked away, embarrassed beyond belief. "I'm ready… if it's with you… Woah!"

The Volkswagen gasped as the seeker jumped on him, pinning him down and kissing him hard. Primus, it just felt _right_ to be here, with Starscream…

…until Bumblebee caught a flash of red out of the corner of his eye. Oh, no – he'd forgotten to lock the door!

Sideswipe's optics glinted evilly as he lit a long match and held it under the smoke detector that Wheeljack had placed on Bumblebee's ceiling, in case of volcanic disaster.

"Mmph!" Bumblebee yelped into the seekers mouth, in an attempt to warn him, but it was too late.

Sideswipe laughed and ran away as the smoke alarm started clanging and the sprinkler system in Bumblebee's quarters gave the couple a nice, cold shower…

-_TBC-_

**Haha. Evil twins. I love them so much! (Especially in a threesome with Ratchet! But, of course, this story doesn't focus on them.) Review, pretty please with energon goodies on top?**


	8. Chapter 8

**Yay! Deviating even FURTHER from the original outline! It's good because it's rare that I can even crank out three chapters of a story. Conversely, it's also bad, cos… I have no freakin' clue how I'm gonna end this…**

**As for the previous chapters... I was surprised that a lot of my reviewers were shocked by Shockwave. Well. It happened in the Marvel comics, though. A little differently, but still! And I hoped you all enjoyed the lightheartedness of last chapter. Was it a nice break?**

**Sunstreaker and Sideswipe are playing a much larger role in this than I'd thought… Don't worry, guys! You'll get your own fic eventually, if you just be patient and stop stealing the show! (Once I can think of a song that fits them and their potential relationship, heh…)**

**Me? Own a giant toy commercial? No way, man! However, I'm never too old to play with them…**

--

Bumblebee stumbled into the Autobot common room in a happy daze that morning, earning a variety of stares in his direction. As well as snickers from the disaster duo.

"Hey, Bee, have fun last night?" Sunstreaker smirked, Sideswipe chortling next to him.

"Hm?" Bumblebee was only half-listening, head in the clouds. (Figuratively, of course.)

"At least," the golden twin continued nonchalantly, "now we know why he's called 'Screamer'."

"What!?" the yellow minibot came crashing down to earth in a sudden fit of embarrassment. "I – we – you heard us?"

"Bumblebee, they heard you all the way in Karbombya! Slag, I bet they heard you all the way back in Iacon!"

Unable to hold back any longer, Sideswipe clutched his chest in laughter. The Volkswagen looked down at his feet. Had he and Starscream really been _that_ loud when they finally interfaced?

"Re_lax_," Sunstreaker waved his hand the way Tracks would. "Everybody else seems to think the red paint on your chest came from Perceptor. If he tried to deny it, no one'd understand the shit coming out of his vocalizer…"

"P-Perceptor?" Bumblebee stammered. Oh, Primus. Was nothing in his life private anymore? And he couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt for both Perceptor and Starscream. The microscope got so flustered when confronted with rumours, and the self-centred seeker wouldn't take to kindly at being mistaken for another. "We were really so loud?" the yellow mech whispered.

"Screamer was!" Sideswipe exclaimed, taking delight in the newfound meaning behind the derogatory nickname. "How could you have missed it? He sounded like a Banshee from the Oragulan galaxy!"

And thus the twins mercilessly teased him all morning.

--

Despite their teasing, the twins weren't so bad lately, Bumblebee noticed. They didn't spend nearly as much time pranking Ratchet as before. The minibot wondered if they'd finally figured out that the medic would eventually get fed up and just _not_ fix them one day. Though they sometimes targeted Ironhide, they also spent a lot of bothering Starscream during Bumblebee's work shifts. It wasn't like they had anything better to do – Shockwave _still_ hadn't arranged an attack!

At first the seeker would have none of it. But after Sunstreaker had used his artistic skills to fill in some of Starscream's surface-scratches, even waxing and shining him, the vain, exiled Decepticon had warmed up to them. After all, he loved being the centre of attention – even if it _was_ only the attention of Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, and Bumblebee.

--

It always caught Bumblebee off guard when the hairline cracks in Starscream's sanity appeared, but it hadn't been a big deal to the Volkswagen until one morning a couple of weeks later.

Starscream, not having any duties, liked to sleep in, so Bumblebee was surprised when he woke up that morning and the seeker was already awake, huddled in the corner.

"Starscream?" he jumped off the bed and took a tentative step forward. "Are you okay? Did you have another nightmare?" The nightmares had started plaguing the seeker less and less, but they still happened.

"M-Megatron…" Starscream shuddered.

Alarmed, the Volkswagen ran over. "Megatron isn't here. It's me, Bumblebee!" But when he moved to wrap a comforting arm around the jet, said jet pulled away.

"But I haven't done anything!" the seeker clutched at his helmet. "Please!" And then, Starscream lived up to his nickname and began to scream – not normal screams, but ethereal, almost-avian screeches, like some sort of opera from hell. And no matter how the minibot tried to shush him, he wouldn't stop. It was almost as if he _couldn't_ stop.

"Starscream!" Bumblebee's door burst open and the twins burst in, followed by Jazz.

"Sunstreaker! Sideswipe! Jazz!" the yellow mech shouted his friends' and father's names over the seekers screams. "I don't know what's wrong – he just started screaming and wouldn't stop!"

Jazz was the first mech to take any action, acting the most serious Bumblebee had ever seen him. The Porsche ran over and scooped the terrified Starscream into his arms, ignoring the ringing in his audio receptors. "Bumblebee, start strokin' his wings – be gentle. Sides, Sunshine, go get Prime, now!"

"What's Optimus gonna do?!" Sunstreaker looked exasperated. "I mean, no offense, Jazz, but if anyone would know how to fix whatever the fuck is wrong, it'd be…"

"…Ratchet," Sideswipe finished his brother's sentence. "Optimus is a leader, not a medic."

"Get 'em both then, I don't care! Just _go_! As yo' superior, I'm orderin' ya!" Jazz shouted, and the twins ran out of the room to follow their orders.

"What's happening?" Bumblebee asked his father while trying his best to gently stroke the struggling seeker's wings. "I've never seen him act like this! Jazz…"

Jazz's visor darkened. "He's hallucinatin', Bee. It's common for sufferers of extreme trauma – the humans even got a name fo' it, but I'll be slagged if I can remember it." The saboteur murmured something into the seeker's audio receptors, then continued, "I've seen it befo', and it ain't ever pretty."

"Seen it… before?"

"Some mechs just ain't built fo' war," was the only answer Jazz gave before he started singing softly into Starscream's audios, gently rocking the seeker back and forth. Though he couldn't hear the song, Bumblebee briefly wondered if Jazz had ever sung it to him when he was a baby.

The door burst open again. This time it was Optimus Prime. Behind him, each Lamborghini twin had one of Ratchet's hands, and were pulling the cranky medic in:

"Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, I'm warning you two! If this is some stupid joke, I'll – oh, my…" The medic seemed to be noticing the screaming seeker for the first time.

"Can you fix it, Ratchet?" Optimus turned to his trusted friend.

"I can't do anything if I can't sedate him first. Can you carry him to med bay, Jazz?"

"Will do, Ratch," Jazz, though technically shorter than Starscream, had no trouble lifting the lightweight flier, especially since Starscream had spent so much energy screaming and yelping. "Sides, Sunny, help me out."

Bumblebee watched helplessly as they left, then turned to his leader. He looked up to Optimus immensely, but sometimes hated that facemask, especially during times when he couldn't read his leader's expressions. Like now.

"Optimus, I – "

"He'll be fine, Bumblebee," the Autobot leader patted the smaller's back. "I doubted it at first, but you did the right thing bringing Starscream here. I can only imagine how much worse Megatron would have made the situation. You're a true Autobot."

"Thanks," Bumblebee sighed. He didn't feel like a true Autobot, though. He felt like a helpless sparkling.

-_TBC_-

**Another extremely short chapter. Poor Starscream and his Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome! Yay, Optimus! I don't give the Autobot leader a fraction of all the love he deserves… Wheeljack, either, though I hope to feature him a little next chapter.**

**I really do want to put some TwinsXRatchet love in here, but there just doesn't seem to be any room! I think I may write them a companion fic…**

**Reviews? Please? I need them like an addict needs smack! (The faster I get my smack, the faster you all get an update!)**


	9. Chapter 9

**If you want some perspective on how far ahead I was in this, at the time I'm writing these here words, I just uploaded chapter three. This (I think) is chapter nine. I'm only doing it this way to assure I don't take a gazillion years to update… like some of my old "Labyrinth" or "Kingdom Hearts" stories… hahaha… (Or worse, the stage I went through when I was obsessed with "Yu-Gi-Oh"! Of course, I deleted all my non-one-shots in that fandom...)**

**Sorry for the way I ended last chapter, but as a PTSS sufferer myself, I figured I could use it to my advantage just so you all could kind of see a little into how messed up Screamer really is. Besides, I have plans for it near the end, if I decide to use the über-shitty ending I ended up thinking of.**

**I actually suck at chemistry, so I don't know if Lithium and Nitrogen can combine, and if they can, I have no idea if they'd react with anything. Let's just pretend they do, okee dokee? Just like we're pretending that the twins wouldn't have Jet Judo'd Starscream on the spot back when they first saw him in med bay.**

**Presently, I has no ownage of "Transformers" or the song "Wonderwall", y'dig?**

**--**

Given his personality, Starscream refused to acknowledge that the severe flashback had happened. No matter how much Bumblebee asked, Starscream would find a clever way to change the subject, often taking on a haughty tone when doing so, as if to ask, "How dare you accuse me of something so trivial?" It didn't bother the Volkswagen _that_ much, as the seeker had always been like that.

What did bother him was that Starscream treated everyone who knew about his presence with disrespect. He wouldn't even _speak_ to Optimus, even after the Autobot leader had taken him in. Optimus didn't seem to mind, as he was wise and could see that the seeker had _severe_ trust issues. But Bumblebee felt bad. What would Starscream do if one day the minibot or the twins couldn't be there for him? He couldn't fly away – the Decepticons most likely had a bounty on his head.

Luckily, Prowl never scheduled him to work the same shifts as the twins. Until today, that is, which is what had gotten Bumblebee thinking about all this in the first place.

"Can't you get out of it?" the seeker glared down his nose at Bumblebee. The Ark was so boring if he were alone – and it certainly didn't help matters that he was confined to certain rooms, especially since he didn't know where half the rooms were.

"I've already talked my way out of countless shifts for you, Starscream. Prowl won't be too happy if I do it again."

"Tch. I could take care of him."

"Starscream…" Bumblebee groaned. "Look, it's only for a little bit, alright? Why don't you go visit with Jazz, or Ratchet? Neither of them are working today."

"As _if_," Starscream spat.

"Fine. Be antisocial, then, but I gotta go," The Volkswagen motioned for the other to bend down, then kissed him lightly on the cheek when the jet complied. "I'll be back later, alright?"

Starscream scowled as he watched the other leave, then counted out a few breems before walking calmly out of Bumblebee's room. He was tired of being confined – Prime had no right to tell him what to do! And so what if any of the Auto-brats saw him? He could take them.

After wondering the maze of the Autobot base for what seemed like vorns, he finally made his way to a dark room which he'd never noticed before. Noticing scrap metal littering the floor, he was intrigued at the various sights that greeted him – inventions! What was this one for? And this one, here? At the Science Academy on Cybertron, his major hadn't been in engineering, but the subject still fascinated him.

"Hey!" a voice made him jump. "Woah! Sorry! Didn't mean to startle you! I'm just not used to seeing anybody else in here!"

Starscream turned to the Autobot that addressed him. Despite the fact that this one wore a mask, he appeared to be smiling underneath it – happiness twinkled in those blue optics.

"You aren't going to sound any alarms or shoot at me?" Starscream glared to hide his surprise, and was even more surprised when the _things_ on the side of the Autobot's head lit up.

"Nah! Not unless you shoot me first. Anyway, I already knew you were here – I helped Ratch work on you when Bumblebee brought you in."

Starscream intensified his glare – this meant that this Auto-scum knew what Megatron had done to him; stuff he hadn't even told Bumblebee yet. But, oddly enough, unlike the others, this one didn't offer any pity. In fact, he just went right back to his work as if nothing had happened.

"That's all you're going to say?" the seeker questioned.

"Uh… hand me that welding tool, will you?"

Shrugging, the ex-Air Commander placed the tool in the engineer's outstretched hands. Curiosity getting the best of him, he peered over the other's shoulder to look at what he was working on. They remained like this for some time, when suddenly the inventor dropped his tool and muttered, "Slag it…"

" 'Slag it'? Slag wh –"

"LOOK OUT!" Before Starscream could protest, this strange Autobot pulled him behind a nearby rock, just in time: the invention he'd been working on exploded. Standing up to brush dust off his arms, the other turned to the bewildered seeker, "Alright, I think we're fine now. Sorry 'bout that. It happens sometimes."

"You say that like it happens _all_ the time."

"Eh, pretty much," the Autobot shrugged again, nonchalantly. "Wonder what went wrong with that one…"

Starscream muttered something and looked away, embarrassed.

"What'd you say? I didn't quite catch that."

"I _said_ you measured out the wrong amount of Lithium Nitrate."

The Autobot looked down in wonder. "How'd you know what I was doing?"

"I was a scientist… before the war… I'd just graduated the Science Academy…"

"Really? Y'mean like…"

The seeker glared up at the inventor ferociously, _daring_ him to mention the traitor's name! However, the other merely finished his sentence with:

"…Perceptor."

Starscream shrugged and let the other help him up.

"Well, you know what they say: if at first you don't succeed, try again! Help me out this time?" The head-ornaments flashed so brightly when he asked this. It bewildered the ex-Decepticon that this Autobot was being so _nice _to him. Not the "I pity you" nice, like Prime or Jazz, but more like he genuinely considered Starscream a friend. And besides, this Autobot was a _scientist_.

"Anything's better than sitting by myself in Bumblebee's room," the seeker agreed. "Of course, you already know _my _name, but you are…?"

"Wheeljack!" The way the optics and head-fins flashed when Wheeljack said this made Starscream think he was smiling again under that ridiculous battle-mask.

The pair worked in silence on the invention for a while, mostly repairing it from the explosion. Starscream had no idea what it was supposed to do, but he allowed him self to enjoy it anyway. (He _deserved_ to have fun, he told himself.) It reminded him of his days at the Science Academy, before he'd chosen his field of science.

Both of the scientists jumped when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" Wheeljack called, those _ridiculous_ yet somehow comforting things on the sides of his head flashing jovially.

"There you are!"

Starscream felt himself smiling when he saw it was Bumblebee. The minibot grinned back, secretly thrilled that his lover was finally starting to warm up to someone.

"My shift's over, and Jazz said he saw you go in here."

"I thought your shift just started," Starscream looked at the yellow mech quizzically.

"Starscream, that was _hours_ ago!" Bumblebee laughed. "What have you been doing in here to make you lose track of time?"

"Starscream's just helping me out on the new energy-converter I've been working on," Wheeljack answered. "It's nice to have another scientist around, 'specially since Perceptor and Ratchet are always too busy to help me out." Somehow he knew not to mention Skyfire. Thank Primus.

"Probably afraid of being blown up," Starscream muttered, then smirked so his companions would see he was joking. Bumblebee smiled again – this was _such_ a huge step for Starscream, especially since the seeker had seemed so hopeless not that long ago!

"Yeah…" Wheeljack scratched the edge of his face-mask sheepishly.

"Why does he wear that stupid battle-mask, anyway?" the seeker asked his partner, who shrugged and turned to the inventor expectantly.

"That's a good question. Wheeljack?"

"What, this?" Wheeljack pointed at his face. "This is no battle mask! Battle masks are pointed in the front, like Optimus's, or Grimlock's." He looked at Starscream and added, "Or Soundwave's. See, but mine is rounded. Ratchet custom built it just for me after a particularly gruesome accident with one of my, er, projects."

"Are you saying you blew the bottom half of your face off?" Bumblebee was surprised.

"Wouldn't you rather stare at the 'stupid' mask, now?" Wheeljack took it in stride, optics flashing happily. "Anyway, I won't keep you two. Thanks for coming to visit, Starscream. You were a big help."

He didn't show it, but Bumblebee could tell that inside, Starscream was thrilled. The seeker loved to be praised like a starving street-droid loved finding half-finished energon cubes in trash bins.

As they were leaving, the seeker asked something that surprised both the Volkswagen and himself:

"Can I come back tomorrow?"

Wheeljack beamed. "Sure thing, Starscream!"

--

"No way!" Sunstreaker gasped later on when hanging out with Starscream and Bumblebee. He'd grown rather fond of the seeker, who, though not as attractive as he was, was still a pretty cool guy.

"No fucking way!" Sideswipe added. "Starscream made a friend?"

"And with Wheelfuck!?"

"What _is_ it with you two and that word?" Starscream scowled at the duo, taking a sip of the energon cube they'd brought him. "What does it even mean?"

"It's a human curse word," Bumblebee explained. "It's kind of similar to how we use 'slag', except much more vulgar. Sparkplug said it once when he stubbed his toe on Grimlock's tail."

"It's fun!" Sideswipe insisted. "We like to put it in mech's names when they piss us off. Doesn't work for Prowl or Hatchet, but we can do it to almost everybody else. The dirtier we can make them, the better!"

"Like your twerpy red comrade," Sunstreaker offered an example to Bumblebee, "Fuckjumper."

"Or Ironfuck," Sideswipe added. "Or Fuckstreak or Fuckspray."

"Just Autobots?" Starscream questioned, curiosity piqued.

"Oh, no, the Decepticons piss us off more anyway!"

"What's… Megatron?" the seeker asked. The twins replied in unison:

"Fuckatron."

"Skywarp?"

"Fuckwarp."

"Thundercracker?"

"Thunderfucker."

Smirking, Starscream asked, "Do you have one for me?"

"Fuckscream," Sideswipe grinned. "Get it? Fucks Cream!?" His brother shoved him, but Starscream's reaction was shocking:

The seeker began to howl with laughter. He was soon joined by his Autobot friends. They all laughed and laughed for breems and breems until Prowl's voice on the intercom interrupted them:

"Attention all Autobots: The Decepticon Shockwave has attacked a nuclear power plant in the Soviet Union. Autobots Jazz, Bluestreak, Sunstreaker, and Sideswipe – report for duty like the rest of your faction has."

The twins stood up and grinned at their friends.

"'Bout time the new leader of you Deceptifucks organized an attack," Sunstreaker smirked.

"Do me a favour," Starscream replied, "and kick Fuckwave's aft."

-_TBC_-

**Yay! Starscream made friends with Wheeljack! Everyone together now: D'aaaaaaaaaaaaaw! It was a little OOC, sure, but I just couldn't resist!**

**The language in that last scene, along with the scene with Soundwave in chapter 4, is the reason this is rated so highly.**


	10. Chapter 10

**This chapter, you all get to witness my inability to write Prowl! And I hint at my opinion that Jazz can't hold his high grade! Yay! Any suggestions after this chapter would be highly appreciated, cos… I'm so lost…**

**Disclaimer from all the other chappies still applies, y'dig?**

**--**

"Traitor!" This word, and the sudden sensation that someone was pushing him, shocked Bumblebee almost as much as when he crashed into the wall a few seconds later. Where had this outburst come from? "No good slagging traitor! Decepticon spy!"

"What are you talking about!?" Bumblebee threw up his arms in defense as fellow minibot Cliffjumper started throwing punches. The yellow mech could easily have punched back, but Optimus would be so disappointed. "Cliffjumper, I haven't done anything!"

"That's a load of slag, Fumblebee! You brought Screamer into the base! You _know_ he's the Decepticon second-in-command!"

"_Ex_-Decepticon second in comma – "

"Shut up! Shut the _slag_ up! You're probably working for Shockwave, aren't you? AREN'T YOU!?"

"I'm not – " Bumblebee was cut off by a loud whack.

"Leave him the fuck alone! He didn't do anything, you stupid minibot!"

"Sunstreaker…" Out of nowhere, Prowl was there, holding the golden Lamborghini back from turning Cliffjumper to scrap metal.

"Lemme go, Prowl! He started it! Little shit…"

"Prowl! Thank god someone in this base still has common sense!"

"Cliffjumper," The Datsun was not amused. "What did you do to get Sunstreaker so upset?"

"As if I needed to do _anything_," the red minibot scowled. When Cliffjumper got in a bad mood, it took a lot to shut him up. "Every Autobot knows that he's a murderer! The only reason he isn't a Decepticreep is because their insignia clashed with his paint."

"_What_!?" Sunstreaker howled indignantly. "I'll kill you, you piece of shit! Let me _go_, Prowl! The little fucker was beating up on Bumblebee!"

"That's cos Bumblebee is a traitor! He's been giving our info to Starscream! It's probably his fault that Windcharger and Jazz are dead!"

"Jazz is dead?" Bumblebee looked up at Prowl, confused.

"Windcharger's death was nobody's fault but his own. You know as well as I do that he wasn't built for that kind of combat," Prowl glared. "Bumblebee is not a traitor and Jazz is not dead. Trust me; I'd know."

"Not you too, Prowl! Is this whole base caught in some sort of Decepticon conspiracy!?"

"Primus, Bumblebee, smack him and knock that smug look off of his ugly little face!" Sunstreaker yelled.

"Sunstreaker, nobody's talking to you. Cliffjumper, Bumblebee isn't a spy. Starscream has been staying with us due to _unusual_ circumstances. And I'll see you in my office in ten Earth-minutes."

Grumbling, Cliffjumper trudged off. Prowl stared at Bumblebee, who stood against the wall, bewildered. The police car then turned to the Lamborghini whom he was still clutching.

"So tell me, Sunstreaker, just how did Cliffjumper know about Starscream?"

"What are you blaming me for!? I can hold my high-grade! I didn't tell anyone anything at last night's victory party. _Jazz_ is the lightweight, not me!"

"But Jazz never returned to the base after our battle. So I wonder just _who_ was told of our seeker friend's presence…"

"Why do you always blame Sideswipe and I for everything?" Sunstreaker pouted. "We didn't tell anyone anything…"

"Oh, really? Cos I could have sworn I overheard _Bluestreak_ talking about Starscream and Bumblebee this morning. And what did Optimus tell you when you all pleaded to let him stay here?"

The golden twin looked away sheepishly. "He said not to tell Bluestreak…"

"And why would he ask that of you?"

"Cos your brother's a fucking loudmouth…"

Prowl scowled and finally let the Lamborghini go. "Get to work, Sunstreaker. You too, Bumblebee. If I'm not mistaken, you both are on clean-up crew."

And so, the two resigned themselves to cleaning up the mess from the previous night's victory party. Bumblebee couldn't help but feel as if it were a little unfair – he'd spent the night in his quarters with Starscream instead of even going to the party – but oh well. He didn't really feel like arguing with Prowl. Cliffjumper was probably giving the Autobot second in command a hard enough time anyway.

"This is so stupid," Sunstreaker muttered. "Bluestreak should be the one punished, not me. Why didn't you kick Fuckjumper's aft, Bee?"

Before Bumblebee got a chance to answer, his father stumbled into the room.

"Mornin', Sunshine, Bee! What'd I miss?" Jazz sat on the floor near where the two were scrubbing.

"A kick-ass party. And now everyone knows Starscream is here. And Bluestreak and Cliffjumper won't stop running their mouths and your little boyfriend won't let me shut 'em up!"

"Prowl an' I have been friends fo' a long time, but he sure as slag ain't my boyfriend," the Porsche smiled good-naturedly. "Ya wouldn't like if I said Ratch an' Wheeljack were 'boyfriends', would ya?"

"That's just unfair," Sunstreaker gaped. Bumblebee looked at the two quizzically – what were they going on about? Shrugging, he went back to his cleaning, figuring he'd just ask Starscream about it later. Sunstreaker, however, continued, "Where were you, anyway? A lot of us thought you were deactivated!"

"Well, I wasn't. An' Prowl knew where I was the whole time! Can't say he approved, but I wasn't AWOL or anything."

"But _where_ were you?" The Lamborghini, refusing to let it go, eyed the saboteur strangely for a few breems before his optics widened. "J-Jazz! What happened to your immaculate paint?! I just touched that up for you!"

"Hm?" Bumblebee looked up again to see that Jazz had smudges on some sections of his paint job. _Indigo_ smudges. And the Volkswagen only knew of one indigo-coloured mech. Gross. "Jazz, you didn't."

"Didn't what?" Sunstreaker looked from Jazz to Bumblebee and back again. "Did I miss something? What happen – OH!" Realisation dawned on the golden twin. "Are you _serious_?! EW!"

"Don't knock it til you try it, Sunshine. I don't make fun of you and yo' brother's tastes in mechs."

"But at least we know the one we got is good," Sunstreaker smirked. "Can you say the same for your Decepticon pet?"

"I can't believe I'm listening to this," Bumblebee smirked to the floor. "And what do you mean 'the one we got', Sunstreaker? I didn't think you or your brother were seeing anyone! Is it Blustreak? Tracks?" He couldn't think of many other mechs that the twins were civil towards.

"Not exactly," Jazz smirked. "Tell 'im, Sunshine."

"You first," Sunstreaker glared. "I wanna know everything, starting at why you never came home from the battle last night."

"Alright," the Porsche shrugged. "I'll tell you two if ya promise not to tell anyone, 'cept Sides, since Sunny can't hide anything from him anyway…"

-_TBC_-

**Another short chapter. Or, technically, a transition, I guess. Or not, I dunno. Really, I'm just stalling until more ideas come along.**

**You want to leave me nice reviews, yes?**


	11. Chapter 11

**This chapter took forever to write. And I'm still not entirely pleased with it. In my opinion, this story's well on its way down the toilet… Then again, I've always been rather hard on myself. Still, I don't like dragging it out so much. I'd hoped to have this be only 10 chapters. We can all see that's not happening. Ugh. What am I gonna do about this?**

**Also, there was a whole different section to the flashback sequence, where Jazz questionds why Sounds didn't put a stop to Megatron's abuse, but... it, along with Sunstreaker, refused to cooperate.� Sigh.**

**The opening scene contains a few allusions to my other fic, "Through Glass". Cos I'm the author and I CAN! Don't like it? Tough titty.**

"**Transformers" and the song from which this fic got its name aren't mine. (Have any of you actually listened to "Wonderwall"? You should. It's purty.)**

**-**flashback**-**

_Jazz looked around, clutching the datapad he had received from Soundwave not too long ago. It had warned of Shockwave's takeover. Then, and this was the part he neglected to tell anyone else, it had given a date. And coordinates. Apparently the coordinates were to an old, abandoned warehouse. How cliché. But it could have been worse, he supposed. It could have been a cave._

"_You came." That incredible voice, mechanically melodic as ever, didn't sound too surprised. But then, Jazz hadn't expected it to. Nevertheless, he could read the other's shocked body language. Even with the facemask and visor, even after all this time, Soundwave still couldn't hide his emotions from the saboteur. "Does anyone else know?"_

"_Ah, Prowler knows. Dun think he's too happy 'bout it, but here I am." Jazz shrugged, grinning when Soundwave's visor darkened at the mention of the police car. "Aw, don' be like that. Ya used ta be friends."_

"_I don't fraternize with the enemy."_

"_What're ya doin' now, then?"_

"…_I would never consider you an enemy, Jazz."_

_The Porsche smirked and sat next to the cassette player, snuggling closer and chuckling softly when the other tensed up._

"_Did ya miss me?"_

_Soundwave didn't reply, but tentatively placed his hand on the other's helm._

"_Request…" Soundwave started, but was interrupted:_

"_Ya wanna know 'bout Glyph. Funny, you never were one to talk befo'. Ya probably already figured out he has no recollection of that name, or of us. Goes by Bumblebee now. Prime's idea, I guess."_

"_I see," the tape deck muttered, though he didn't really. The words were more for Jazz's benefit._

"_Take that stupid battle mask off, will ya? The first time we're able ta see each other in vorns and ya wear that stupid thing," Jazz reached up and ran his hands around the other's helm. "I hate that mask. How d'ya take it off?"_

"_Why do you want it removed so badly?"_

"_Cos I _missed_ ya, Sounds! Even if that ain't mutual, ya could at least let me see what I've been missin'!"_

"_Who said it wasn't mutual?" With one hand, Soundwave gently removed the Autobot's wandering fingers from his helm, and with the other he pressed a hidden button under his audio receptors, parting the battle mask in the middle._

"'_Sbetter," Jazz muttered, happily nuzzling the other. How could he have gone so long without this? "While I'm at it, if ya know Glyph's alive, why're ya still wit' the 'cons?"_

"_You know it isn't that simple," the cassette player sighed, producing a strange _whirr_ sound._

"_Yeah, I know. Jus' let me live in my warped little fantasy world for a little longer..."_

_The two talked for a little longer, avoiding talk of the war as much as possible. They reminisced, mostly, and Soundwave was, of course, curious about Bumblebee and Starscream, as well as his old comrades. The tape deck never could stand being out of the loop. Eventually, though, the pair just sat there in silence._

"_I really should go soon," Jazz sighed, making no effort to get up. "The others'll probably be worried about me. An' I'm probably missin' a kick-aft party." When the tape deck didn't reply, Jazz asked, "Does Shockwave know you're out?"_

"_He has no reason to doubt my loyalty."_

"_Ah. Well then." The Autobot sat up and began to stretch his joints before Soundwave pulled him back down again. "Ack! S-Sounds! What the slag?"_

"_Don't leave," The tape deck murmured. It wasn't a plead. It was a command. A command so close to Jazz's audio receptors, it made him shiver._

"_Soundwave? What're you doin'?" Jazz shivered again._

_Soundwave stared down at the Autobot in his arms, as if plotting out what to say, then spoke:_

"_I was much too afraid to do this before. But I can't stand the idea of never having the chance to do it before I cease functioning. Even if I lose you again."_

"_Wha – mmrphle!" Jazz gasped into his old friend's mouth as the other kissed him. Well, _this_ was a new development. Still, it was nice. Warm. Euphoric. Why hadn't they done this before…?_

-end flashback-

"Stop there," Sunstreaker commanded, shoving a rag into the saboteur's mouth. "That's disgusting! Just stop!"

"Hey," Jazz grimaced, removing the rag from his mouth. "You asked, Sunshine. That's no way ta treat someone who actually gives in ta your beggin'."

"Please. I hardly begged!"

"Only cos I gave in so soon!"

"Only cos you're some sort of exhibitionist who wants to fuck with my head with your dirty sex talk – "

"Shut up, Sunshine," Jazz held up a hand, causing the golden Lamborghini to cry out indignantly:

"Don't interrupt me!"

"No, really, shut up. Ya hear that?"

Sunstreaker listened. And he heard it: CLUNK. CLUNK. CLUNK.

The two looked to the source of the noise to find Bumblebee hitting his head against a wall repeatedly. The minibot wondered how it was that he always got caught in the most awkward situations possible. Only after Jazz pulled him away from the wall did he remember to ask Sunstreaker:

"Hey! Who are you and Sideswipe seeing?"

"Fuck," Sunstreaker muttered. "He's gonna kill me when he learns you found out…"

"That ain't an answer," Jazz smirked, thoroughly enjoying the warrior's discomfort.

"Well, fuck it! Ask your seeker! He knows!" Sunstreaker threw up his hands in frustration and stomped away. Bumblebee sighed.

"He still has clean up duty…" the yellow VW muttered, then returned to cleaning.

--

After he had finished his shift, the worn out Volkswagen sought out "his" seeker. (as Sunstreaker had so eloquently put it.) He didn't have to look very far. Or rather, to listen very far. Starscream's distinctive voice carried quite well, and sounded like it was coming from a nearby room. Along with, surprisingly, Perceptor's:

"Though I must admit I never thought very highly of you before I learned the unfortunate circumstances, I have always rather admired your perseverance."

Bumblebee knew eavesdropping was wrong, but then again, he _was_ a spy. How was this any different? Then again, part of him told him he should make his presence known before Starscream got too angry, but he ignored that part and listened to Starscream's irritated reply:

"Perseverance? What perseverance? I worked my way up and up and up and what the frag do I have to show for it? I'm exiled, humiliated, and stuck here with a bunch of scum who would gladly kill me while I recharged!"

Bumblebee grimaced. Starscream wasn't taking being out in the open very well. Had he met with Cliffjumper?

"That's not…" Perceptor sounded distraught. "I didn't mean…"

"That's not what? What didn't you mean? I've gotten enough false pity from your stupid leader and his stupid subordinates and I don't need any from you!"

Bumblebee's optics widened. His audio receptors began ringing so that he couldn't hear poor Perceptor's reply. Now, the yellow mech was usually understanding and easygoing, but he couldn't take someone insulting Prime! Optimus had taken him in and asked nothing in return! Optimus had done the same for Starscream! How dare the seeker? After all everyone had done to him?

Now thoroughly pissed, Bumblebee threw the door opened and entered the room where Starscream was berating Perceptor. "Starscream!"

"What?" optics glowing red, Starscream turned, then softened a bit when he saw who it was. "Are you alright?"

"No, I am not alright! I'm tired of your hostile behaviour with everyone who tries to be nice to you! Optimus and Ratchet and Jazz have done so much to make you feel welcome, but all you do is pull your 'high and mighty' act and treat everyone like shit! You wonder why nobody likes you? Haven't you ever heard the saying "Treat others as you want to be treated"? And Optimus Prime is not stupid! He's a better leader than you could ever be! He's been nothing but kind to all of us and here you are, tossing around your petty insults! Argh!" Too frustrated to continue this rant, the minibot threw up his hands and stormed out, stomping away.

Starscream stood there in a daze. Bumblebee hadn't slapped him, but he may as well have. The seeker wasn't sure whether to be pissed or to try to make it better. He looked over to Perceptor for answers, but the microscope had already gone back to his work as if nothing had happened.

Shrugging, the ex-Decepticon walked out, still unsure how to react. For now he was merely shocked. 

His ego told him to go give the minibot a piece of his mind – how dare the little brat accuse him of being a lesser leader than some Auto-scum?

But then again…

Before he could finish that train of thought, he heard a noise. It was practically undetectable, but being one of the most hated in the Decepticon base had made him alert to such things. He effortlessly glided up to the ceiling, not even bothering to transform.

"Ravage," he whispered, glaring at the catlike mech who was sneaking around in the pipes. "Did that frag-rectifier you call a maker send you on a spy mission?"

Ravage glared, but didn't pounce, as much as he wanted to. That would blow his cover. Even if it would almost be worth it to wipe the smug look off that traitor's face. No one got away with calling Soundwave such crude insults…

"Tell me, Ravage, how this is any help to the Decepticon cause. Even if the Auto-slag _were_ planning an attack, your recordings wouldn't make any difference. We both know Shockwave can't shoot for slag, and he's an even worse leader."

Still, Ravage made no movement, except to intensify his glare.

"You're no fun," Starscream snorted. "This is pointless anyway. Look, why don't I just guide you to where the Autobots keep their energon? At least that'd be more useful than you sneaking around like some sort of voyeur."

The black quadriped broke his glare and began to silently walk away along a pipe. He didn't need to listen to Starscream. The seeker had been exiled and no longer outranked him.

"Where are you going?" Starscream sneered, floating beside the panther-like tape. "I have something to tell Soundwave, if you don't mind delivering the message."

Ravage stopped, frozen in his tracks, then slowly turned his head toward the seeker as if to say "I'm listening".

Starscream smirked. "I knew you'd see things my way." With that, he proceeded to whisper something into the catlike mech's ear. When he finished, the tape nodded and walked off. Starscream glided down to the ground, wishing he could _really_ fly, only to be greeted with a horrid sight once he was back on solid ground…

Why was _his _Bumblebee talking to that traitor Skyfire?

-_TBC_-

**Dun dun dunnnn. Suspense! What did Starscream say to Ravage? Why **_**is**_** Bumblebee talking to Skyfire? Who are Sideswipe and Sunstreaker seeing? (Well, okay, if you've been reading the author notes, the answer to that last one should be obvious…)**

**You have no idea how much I wanted the one line in the flashback sequence to say "Jazz shivered with antici… pation!" I was so tempted. Too much "RHPS". XD**

**Reviews are always lovely. It's nice to get something for the hours of labour that have gone into this.**


	12. Chapter 12

**I finally figured out how to end this, and it'll probably be over within one to three chapters**

**I finally figured out how to end this, and it'll probably be over within one to three chapters. It's kinda a shitty ending, but considering this was supposed to be a one-shot and ended up my most popular story, I'd say I did pretty good. Plus, since I wrote it, I already kinda figured I'd end up hating how I ended it. I suck at conclusions. Probably cos in real life, there is no nice, tidy closure. Not that the ending I decided on has any of that either. ANYWAY, I'd better shut up so I don't spoil it.**

**Here's our next chapter! Filled with romance, drama, suspense, and giant freaking robots! Except really only the last part. Hehe!**

**I don't own. You should all know that by now, sillies!**

**oOo**

"Bumblebee? Are you alright? You seem… upset…" these kind words from the gentle giant surprised Bumblebee, but at the same time he was relieved that it was someone _nice_, someone who _appreciated_ all the selfless things Optimus did for everyone.

"Hi, Skyfire," he forced a smile. No use dragging someone else into this huge mess. "I haven't talked to you in ages.

"Been busy with Starscream?" Skyfire's mouth curved up slightly, but other than that, Bumblebee couldn't read his expression.

"You're not mad?"

"Should I be?"

"I don't know," the minibot sighed heavily, shoulders slumping.

"You got into a fight," Skyfire reasoned. The yellow mech below him hesitated, then nodded miserably. "What did he say?"

Bumblebee's optics blazed. "He called Optimus stupid!"

"That's all?"

"Whaddya mean that's all!?"

"Bumblebee," Skyfire stopped the other. "I don't want you to be angry, but you're being unreasonable. Try to see things from his point of view – he was very naïve when he met Megatron, and when you consider his… unfortunate lifestyle… it's not surprising that he feels hostile towards Optimus."

"I know all that. I'm young, but I'm not stupid. Optimus has been nothing but wonderful towards Starscream. He has no right to be so ungrateful!"

"It isn't a matter of gratefulness," Skyfire countered. "It's a matter of trust. I know firsthand how Megatron can be. He, too, will act 'nothing but wonderful' if he believes it'll get him what he wants. It isn't surprising for someone of Starscream's mindset to start drawing parallels. And as for the others who have tried to make him feel welcome, none of the Decepticons liked Starscream, and it's understandable why he'd think none of the Autobots do, either."

"I guess…" Bumblebee furrowed his optic ridges. "I suppose you _would_ know, wouldn't you?" He started to walk away, but stopped and turned to speak to Skyfire again, "Would you be offended if I asked you something about Starscream?"

"Ask away," Skyfire smiled down at the minibot.

"Were you… in love with him?" When Skyfire looked shocked, Bumblebee continued, "I'm sorry, but I just was curious. You don't have to answer if you don't want to. I mean, he calls you a traitor, so I thought maybe you had a bad break up or something, but I didn't mean to offend you – "

"Calm down; you're beginning to sound like Bluestreak! I wasn't offended, just caught off guard. And as for your question…" Skyfire sighed. He hadn't told anyone, not even Optimus, the full story. Only Prowl, Jazz, Ratchet, and Wheeljack knew the full story, and that was merely because they had been there. "You see, I… I suppose, in a way, the answer to your question is yes."

"I'm sorry," Bumblebee muttered.

"Don't be. The Starscream I loved was deactivated by Megatron. He ruins everything he touches," the tall, white mech grumbled darkly, a sound that was almost out of place for him.

"If it helps," Bumblebee offered, "Megatron is gone now."

"Don't be so sure about that. Anyway, Starscream was a little younger than you are when we met. He was my charge. He was very eager to please, and I'm ashamed to admit that I was younger and more brash, so I took advantage of that a little. The one personality trait that seemed to stay with him is that he still seems to crave praise, if what I've heard from Wheeljack is true. When we were on a mission together – it was a little after he graduated, but we were lovers at the time – he witnessed my accident."

"When you got frozen?" the Volkswagen asked, optics wide. Skyfire nodded, and continued:

"When I was thawed out, I joined the Decepticons to save Cybertron and to be with him, but he'd changed. He was needy and pompous, but I thought that if I stayed with him, he'd get better. I thought it was a façade, since it was clear all the other Decepticons hated him. I may have been right, but I never could find out, because I just couldn't stay with Megatron. Since I recently found out how Megatron treated him, I realise now Starscream saw it as abandonment when I joined the Autobots. He shot me in the back, but in his optics it's the other way around. He's that damaged."

"I see," Bumblebee nodded. "So… you aren't mad that I'm his partner now?"

"To be honest, I was a little hurt until I talked to Ratchet. He's close to the twins, who say you're treating him well. You _were_ treating him well. I know he's hurt your feelings on multiple occasions, but he needs you to be there for him, even if it kills him to admit it. Even with Megatron currently gone, the psychological damage will always be there, and with a war going, you're his one source of stability. Anyone else may turn on him in an instant, but you need to be there for him without fail. Can you do that for me?"

"I promise," Bumblebee nodded again. His chest ached with this realisation. He shouldn't have blown up like that! "Oh, slag… I need to find him! Thanks, Skyfire!"

Skyfire smiled sadly as he watched the minibot run off. He hoped all would be well.

**oOo**

All was not well, though. Starscream was nowhere to be found, and when Prowl checked, it was discovered the seeker had left the base.

"He _what_!?" Bumblebee gaped. "Is he crazy? He has nowhere to go!"

"Luckily," Prowl remained calm, unlike the yellow minibot, "when he was first brought into the Autobot base, I had Ratchet install a tracking device in his cockpit."

"You knew?" The Veedub gaped at the police car.

"Jazz has never kept anything from me in his life," Prowl smirked for a second, but it quickly disappeared. He grabbed a handset on his desk and entered the code to call Med Bay. "Ratchet? Are you there?"

"He's busy," Sideswipe's voice came from the headset. "What can I do ya for, Prowlie?"

"I don't care if he's busy. Let me talk to him."

"_Well, okay, but don't say I didn't warn you…"_ There were a few odd noises that Bumblebee couldn't place, then Ratchet's voice came on, about an octave higher than normal:

"Wh-what?!"

"I need you to locate Starscream's signal."

"_Well, can it _wait_? Aah!"_

Bumblebee's optics widened when he realised what Ratchet was doing. And… with Sideswipe! Well, that certainly explained a lot. Still, though. Ew. Then again, he couldn't really think such things without being a hypocrite…

"It'll take five breems, Ratchet," Prowl's door-wings twitched with annoyance. "If you could just get off the twins for that amount of time, I wouldn't bother you for the rest of the day."

"_He's over the Atlantic Oceaaan,"_ Ratchet's voice got louder as he said this last word, and he (thankfully) hung up after that.

"Slag," Bumblebee muttered. "Prowl, that means he's – "

"I know what it means, Bumblebee," the Datsun cut him off. "I'll report it to Optimus."

-_TBC_-

**If you're a bit slow on the uptake, Ratchet is banging the twins. I wanted to do that for so long, and now… it's a little disappointing… OH WELL. I want to write them a companion fic eventually, anyway.**

**Also, Skyfire basically explained my take on what the word "wonderwall" means.**

**Starscream felt betrayed, so he returns to the Decepticons. But if he thinks Shockwave's just gonna welcome him with open arms, he's got another thing coming! What was he thinking!? (Blame it on temporary insanity?) All that and more, next instalment of "Wonderwall"!**

**If you loved me, you'd review. Or if you loved the story, since… I'm actually not all that loveable…**


	13. Chapter 13

**Well, we're getting pretty close to the end**

**Well, we're getting pretty close to the end. I think next chapter may be the last, but then again, I also thought this was gonna be a crappy one-shot that no one would ever read. (Somehow it's become no only my most popular story, but I think the most-reviewed SSxBB fic out there! I'm so glad!)**

**Oh, and don't worry. Starscream will eventually get back together with Bee. Somehow.**

**And OOH, I'm SO MAD that the dashes I use for scene changes don't work anymore! It makes all my work, this included (as well as my other major projects, "Twenty", "Queen of Junk", and "Through Glass") look like scribbled down garbage! Rrrr... Oh well. Now I use "oOo". Still, I'm rather upset about it. Stupid people who operate the site...**

**I don't own "Transformers" or the song "Wonderwall". I do, however, pwn.**

oOo

"Foolish coward!"

The loud smack of metal-upon-metal, as well as the impact when he hit the ground in the Decepticon throne room, shocked Starscream. Why had he come here? This definitely wasn't one of his smarter moves, but without that _traitor_ Bumblebee, where else could he go?

"Pitiful little bitch," Shockwave stomped his foot down on Starscream's one arm, having torn off the other one at the beginning of the beating. Oh, curse Megatron for removing his weapons, or else he'd kick Shockwave's aft! "How dare you come back here, you snivelling, pathetic whore?"

"Your hits are _nothing_ compared to Megatron's!" Starscream shrieked, flailing under the Decepticon leader's foot.

"Shut up!" Enraged, Shockwave did what Megatron had so loved to and lifted the seeker by his throat. "You dare compare the mighty Shockwave to that sorry excuse for scrap metal? I'll blast you to bits, traitor!"

"Aggkk," Starscream lifted his arm to weakly try and pry the purple fingers from his throat, choking out, "Y-you wouldn't be able to… if I were… right in front of you!"

"I said shut _up_!" The Decepticon leader disdainfully tossed the seeker aside. He would have landed at someone's feet, were there anyone's feet to land at. Decepticon HQ was oddly quiet. Only Shockwave and Soundwave were in the room with him. "Soundwave! Take him to the brig – he'll receive the same sentence as the other prisoners!"

"Fuck you," the seeker whispered hoarsely as the tape deck hoisted him up. "Don't touch me!"

oOo

Primus, this was humiliating. Betrayed, and now beaten, he was being led to the brig where he'd spend the remainder of his days by a former one-night stand. How could it get any worse than this?

"What's that fucker going to do to me?" Starscream asked the one leading him to the cell. Technically, he asked the floor, since he was unable to look Soundwave in the optic.

"Those who Shockwave suspects to be disloyal are deactivated," Soundwave answered calmly.

"What!? That _idiot_! The Decepticon forces are low enough on troops already! That paranoid prick! And why are _you _still alive!?"

"He has no reason to suspect me."

"No reason to suspect you!?" Starscream was furious, now. "After you tipped off the Autobots and interfaced with your little race-car whor–"

"Jazz is _not_ a whore!" Soundwave swiftly – the jet had forgotten such a bulky mech could be so swift – pinned Starscream to a nearby wall and began charging his shoulder cannon. "Don't talk about what you could never understand! Without Jazz, you'd be dead."

"You wouldn't shoot me," Starscream smirked, ignoring the acceleration of his fuel pump. He had to ignore it, or the telepath would sense his fear. "Not after what we had."

"That was one night, _Screamer_," Soundwave's visor darkened. So much for that strategy. Time for plan B…

"Don't _ever_ call me that!" Starscream shrieked, using all the strength he could muster to punch the tape deck in the face-mask. Because he hadn't been expecting that, Soundwave toppled backwards, then sat up rubbing the dent in his battle-mask. "And _don't_ tell me what _I_ don't understand! You could read all the minds on Cybertron and _you'd _never understand how I feel!"

He wanted to say so much more, but was stopped by the chilling sound coming from the mech on the floor in front of him? Was Soundwave… sobbing?

No…

He was _laughing._ A bitter sound that could freeze suns.

"You underestimate me," Soundwave removed the damaged battle mask, smirking at the seeker. Starscream shivered involuntarily at the gaunt face beneath, with the miniscule hole where the dented battle mask had punctured. "Circumstances: extremely different. But I know _exactly_ how you feel." It was the most emotion Soundwave had ever revealed.

"You're insane…" Starscream whispered, then yelped as Soundwave threw him into a nearby cell, then opened his chest compartment and tossed something in behind him: his disconnected arm.

"Your assumption: incorrect," Soundwave muttered bitterly and walked off.

"Bra-_vo_, Screamer!" the voice made the seeker jump and look around wildly. He had _cellmates_? Could this get more humiliating?! However, he relaxed a bit when he saw who it was.

"Thundercracker! Skywarp!" His wingmates! Though he'd never admit it, he was, on some level, relieved that the other members of his trine were alive.

"You came back to the Decepticons?" Thundercracker seemed surprised.

"Could you be any stupider!?" Skywarp interjected, only to be hit by the blue seeker. "Ow! What'd ya do that for, TC!?"

"Stupider isn't even a word," was Thundercracker's answer. "And as for you Starscream… we thought you were dead!"

"So did I," Starscream muttered, clutching his dismembered arm close to his cockpit. Primus, there were a million places he'd rather be than here, even if he was glad to be back with his wingmates. Not least of all, back in the arms of… "Nng!" he dropped the disconnected arm and clutched his helm with the remaining one. "No! I mustn't think of that _traitor_…" He hissed to himself.

"Screamer?" Skywarp shuffled closer. "Y'okay? Here, lemme see your arm…"

"Don't bother," Starscream muttered. "Shockwave is going to kill me anyway."

"At least," Thundercracker shrugged, "we're dying together."

"Why'd you leave us alone with fraggin' _Shockwave_, Screamer?" Skywarp questioned the red jet whom he was currently trying to repair. Key word trying. Not succeeding. "Where'd you go?"

"The Autobots?" Thundercracker pushed Skywarp aside – he was no medic, but at least he was better at repairs than the purple plane.

"None of your business," Starscream spat. "And Skywarp? Don't call me that stupid name. You know I hate it."

"It's the little yellow brat, isn't it?"

"Wha–!?" The ex-Air Commander glared at Skywarp. "D-don't be stupid!"

"He's a lot like you used to be," Thundercracker shrugged. "Confident, eager-to-please, good at blowing shit up if need be…"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Starscream snorted.

"Cut the slag, Screamer. You can't fool us. You're our wingmate! All for one an' one for all, since we were minibots Though, I guess that wasn't that long ago for you…"

"Shut up," the dark-faced seeker snorted again. As if Skywarp and Thundercracker were _really _that much older!

"Do you love him?" Thundercracker questioned.

Starscream sighed. Then, "There's no such thing." He winced in pain, then looked away.

"Can you move your fingers?" the blue seeker asked. "Starscream? Are you listening?"

"Uh oh," Skywarp muttered as he witnessed the youngest seeker's body go rigid. "Uh, TC?"

"On it," Thundercracker said matter-of-factly. Both older seekers wrapped arms around the younger just as he began to tremble and whimper pathetically – something he'd never allow anyone else to witness. A flashback.

"M-Megatron…" Starscream whispered, his working hand clutching his cockpit, while the other hung limply nearby. "No… I don't want…"

And then, the screaming began.

oOo

"_M-Megatron! Please!"_

"_Oh, don't be such a weakling, Starscream," The silver tyrant lifted the seeker by the throat, silencing the shrill sounds emitting from the others vocaliser. "You had it coming to you… whore!" Spitting the last word, he threw the other across the room, then pounced on him, straddling the seeker._

"_I don't want it…" Starscream whispered hoarsely, knowing all too well it was to no avail. Megatron never listened to what Starscream wanted. He only took what he wanted. The seeker shuddered. Primus, this was humiliating. Suddenly, he was back-handed._

"_Stop trembling like a petro-rabbit, foolish coward!"_

"_I wasn't!"_

_Megatron's eyes flashed bright crimson in sudden anger. "You _dare_ interrupt me? Will you let me finish one… fragging… _SENTENCE

_Starscream bit his lips to keep from crying out as Megatron touched him. He felt so dirty, so humiliated, and in such pain – his leader was pissed and was being particularly rough that night. But he wouldn't give Megatron the apology he desired._

_He took it in silence when the Decepticon leader plugged into him, thrusting roughly against the wall so that his paint was scratched and the glass in his cockpit damaged. Such roughness was surely damaging his wings as well! Megatron would pay for this someday!_

_Finally, the tyrant screamed in ecstasy, then laughed as he tossed the seeker aside like a used rag. "Pitiful. Just pitiful."_

_Starscream wiped some leakage from the corner of his mouth, glaring at the ground. He _hated_ Megatron._

"_You can't even manage your own pathetic excuse for a life!" Megatron laughed as the second-in-command huddled in a corner. Continuing to cackle evilly, he left. For now, it was over._

_Starscream wanted revenge on all the Decepticons who had laughed at his pain, vowing they'd someday kiss the ground he walked on. But mostly, he wanted revenge on the silver gun who had done this._

oOo

"Hey, TC?"

"…yeah?"

"I think he's in recharge," The purple seeker sat back and sighed. "Primus. He puts on airs so much, I forget he's still just a kid!"

Thundercracker didn't reply, choosing instead to brood. Starscream was arrogant and difficult, but surely… no one deserved that.

"Hey," Skywarp spoke again, quieter so as not to awake his ex-commander. "TC?"

"What?"

"…Wanna play charades?"

-_TBC_-

**Another flashback! Oh no! Damaged psyche! Have any of you ever had a flashback? They aren't pleasant, believe me. But I TOLD you back in chapter 8 (It WAS 8, right?) that the flashback would play a role later.**

**Can you tell how much I hate Shockwave? I'm shit at writing him. But I don't really care cos he needs to die. I'm almost considering bringing Megs back just to kill that one-eyed freak. Maybe I will. Maybe I won't. Also, I think I failed at Soundwave this chapter. Which is a shame, cos I wasn't that bad before. Maybe it was just a bad day? Shame. I love that tape deck.**

**It seems to be a bit of a pathetic tradition that I ask for reviews. Why break tradition?**


	14. Chapter 14

**Next chapter or the one after that should be the last one… I think… Also, sorry for the long wait. There may be an even longer wait for the next chapter, because, you know... I have a life... I need to focus on graduating high school right now...**

**Bear with me in the opening scene, okay? It'll prolly confuse the heck outta you at first, but… it was a deleted scene from an earlier chapter, and I had to use it somehow… so just… plough through, enjoy it, and it'll all make sense at the end of the scene.**

**As for the second scene, just like a lot of other elements of this story, it's a product of me spending way more time than necessary perusing deviantArt. Also, when my friend and I were at Michael's the other day, we saw these GIANT sketchpads. We joked they were "Transformer sized", and, well…**

**Oh, also, to clear up some confusion you're probably all experiencing (or, if you're like me, you didn't think of it til now, but still…), Starscream's weapons got taken by Megatron when he was kicked out back in chapter 5. And, as you'll see this chapter, Shockwave has similarly revoked Skywarp's special warp abilities. Don't ask how. Maybe he disabled some of 'Warp's microchips or something?**

**I'd have hoped we'd have established by now that I own nothing but the plot, but just in case… don't send lawyers after me… I don't have a job right now… sob sob…**

oOo

Starscream onlined his optics wearily, looking around. Where… was he…? Feeling something snuggle into his midsection, he looked down to see his small yellow partner, and when his spark wrenched, Starscream realised – grudgingly, and he'd never admit it, of course – that he'd missed the little guy.

But wait a breem – how'd he end up back in Bumblebee's berth? What had happened to the cell Shockwave had put him in? And what about the others in his trine?

"You're awake," the minibot smiled up at the seeker, surprising him.

"Uh… yeah…" Starscream answered ineloquently, still quite dazed and confused. "How…?"

"Primus," Bumblebee shook his head, "the whole day was a nightmare. No, wait – if it were a nightmare, at least I could have woken up."

Unsure how to ask what was going on without sounding like a fool – he was _not _about to sound like a fool, after all – the seeker gave up and decided to just go with it, asking, "That bad?"

"The twins replaced all Cliffjumper's writing utensils with the oversized Crayola crayons, then placed what they took in Jell-O, so of course 'Jumper gave me shit all morning. Then Prowl had me on a janitorial shift, which he _knows_ I hate doing. And when I went to clean the monitor room, like I was supposed to, Red Alert started spazzing out – I'm not sure I want to know what he was doing beforehand – and of course Inferno was out on guard duty, so he couldn't be there to calm Red down… Primus…" Suddenly, the little yellow mech smiled sweetly, "Make me feel better?"

The sheer _normalcy_ of the situation was fritzing the seeker's logic processors. He didn't like it very much, but really had no choice but to keep going with it. "Eh," he looked away, pretending not to bother to care, as much as he'd (secretly, of course) missed the young one's kisses.

"Is _that_ your idea of comforting me?" Bumblebee pouted, looking offended, but also too cute for the ex-Decepticon to resist much longer. He scooped down, capturing the other's mouth in a brief kiss, before smirking and breaking apart to murmur:

"I was just _kidding,_ you big sparkling. Primus, Bee, you know how much you mean to me. Cliffjumper and the others don't know what they're talking about."

They kissed again, longer and more passionately this time, so that the younger was panting when they broke apart.

"Starscream… what _is_ it with you these days? You're being too nice – it's beginning to creep me out."

Knowing full well the other was teasing, Starscream pushed the VeeDub off. "I can't win with you, can I? You wanted me to be nice, so I was nice. And _now_ I'm creeping you out? Slag off, minibot."

From where he'd landed from the push, Bumblebee feigned aghast. "I take it all back! You're pure evil! You make Unicron look like a Disney princess!"

Starscream laughed. He'd missed this kind of exchange. "Haha. Crawl to me, you insignificant worm!" Bumblebee complied, and the seeker continued, pulling the other towards him slowly. "Come on now – I'm a mech from the wrong side of the tracks, with terrible secrets and multiple personalities. Isn't that the romantic ideal you've sculpted me into?"

The minibot's reply shocked him.

"Nine!" Bumblebee chirped.

"What?"

"Nine! Nine!"

oOo

Starscream onlined his optics wearily, looking around. Where… was he…?

"Are you sure there's no nine?" Skywarp's voice was saying. Starscream sighed. So he _was_ still in the cell and not with the Autobot he wanted so badly to see. That had been a dream. Slag it all…

"Is nine even a letter?" Thundercracker gaped at the purple and black seeker incredulously, to which Skywarp replied:

"In Roman numerals it is…"

Thundercracker groaned. Skywarp had a point.

Starscream sighed silently. What were these two doing? Seeing the notepad lying on the floor, and recognising it as Thundercracker's, the ex-air commander figured they were playing some Earth-game Rumble or Frenzy had taught them. At any rate, they hadn't realised he was awake yet, so he resigned himself to watching them. It had to be more interesting than staring at the wall.

"Oh, Primus!" Skywarp's optics brightened. "I've got it!"

"Really?" Thundercracker seemed surprised as the purple seeker grabbed the writing utensil and scribbled something on the notepad. The little hanging stick man now had a more geometrical-shaped head and one optic. Like Shockwave. Grinning, Skywarp elbowed the blue seeker, who glared and said, "That's real mature, Skywarp."

Not fazed, Skywarp began to scribble again, this time giving little stick-Shockwave a femme-chest (and femme interfacing gear) and erupting into laughter. Thundercracker snorted, trying to hold back his own giggles for a few nanokliks until both were on the floor laughing.

"_What_," Starscream spoke, surprising the two in front of him, "are you two idiots doing?"

"Playing hangman," Thundercracker replied between stifled giggles, pointing at the notepad. "Except this idiot can't figure out the word."

"Gimme a break!" Skywarp groaned. "English isn't my first language! And anyway, did we wake you, Screamer?"

Starscream twitched. "I've told you a million times not to call me that!"

"Yeah, 'cept you don't outrank me anymore, Screamer. You were moaning in your sleep, y'know? Were you dreaming about banging that Autobrat?"

"Skywarp?" Starscream glared. "Kindly shut up."

Skywarp made a big show of sighing dramatically before sitting back and letting his optics glaze over.

Wait a minute…

Starscream had seen that look in a mech before. Where had he seen it? Looking to Thundercracker and seeing the same glazed expression, it hit him like a ton of energon cubes: Sunstreaker and Sideswipe! But Thundercracker and Skywarp weren't twins. Seekers couldn't be twins – they were mass-produced, and then given to fliers to be trained as soldiers. Thundercracker and Skywarp had both been lucky to have gotten taken in by kind caretakers in Iacon, rather than someone like Megatron, but that still didn't explain this. Only twins could communicate mentally like that. Well, twins and another kind of pair…

"Frag…" Starscream realised, then louder, "_Frag_!" The exclamation snapped the other two out of their dazed and they looked at the sputtering red seeker, half-confused and half-amused. "You two are… Primus… you're _bonded_!? When!? _How_!?"

Thundercracker looked sheepish, but Skywarp didn't seem to care either way, remarking, "Well, you see, Screamer, when two mechs or two femmes or a mech and a femme care about each other very much, they do a little something called – "

"Shut it, Skywarp, I know how bonding works! Just… Slag! How long has this been going on?"

"Skywarp and I have been bonded since… shortly after we met you, actually."

Starscream blanched. That long? It'd been that long and he hadn't noticed!? Irritated, he asked, "And neither of you thought to tell me this because…?"

"Why should we have?" Thundercracker grasped his bondmate's hand. "It didn't effect our performance on the battle field, did it?"

"Yeah, and you should've figured it out anyway, smart-aft! Why else would we always gang up on you? I mean besides the fact that you're younger, more high-strung, easily embarrassed, and just all around the most fun to pick on. Why, Screamer, ya jealous?!"

"No," Starscream sulked, though the look in his optics may or may not have indicated otherwise. With the red jet, it was hard to tell. Still, Skywarp winced at Thundercracker's disappointment in his poor choice of words flooding the bond.

"Are you okay, Starscream?" Thundercracker asked his wingmate, concerned. When the other looked away, refusing him an answer like a spoiled sparkling, the blue jet continued, "What's wrong?"

"You said you didn't believe in love, so why should we bother you?" Skywarp tried again.

"Don't be upset," Thundercracker went on, ignoring the purple seeker. "We're still wingmates, Starscream. Skywarp and I won't abandon you, you know."

'_Jeez,'_ the purple seeker spoke over the mental link. _'I hate when he gets this way. Didn't think it'd upset him that much, though.'_

"I'm not mad," Starscream said quietly, though he looked plenty mad. "Why should I be mad? Skywarp said it himself – I don't believe in love."

"Why not?" Thundercracker blurted out before he could stop himself.

"Why do you _think!?"_ Glaring, the youngest of the seeker whipped his head up to face the two bondmates, optics blazing. "Skyfire told me he loved me and made me think I loved him too, and then he left me all alone! Megatron told me he loved me and I bought it, doing whatever he asked of me and even what he didn't, but I think we all know what I was to _him _in the end! And then Skyfire came back, and just when I thought that _maybe_ everything would be okay, _maybe_ he really would stay with me and love me and never leave me alone, he abandoned me _again_! I'm _sick _of it! If they really loved me – if that sickening, pathetic emotion really existed – if… if…" Unable to control himself at this point in the outburst, Starscream turned away shuddering and trying to stifle what sounded suspiciously like sobs, clutching his non-working arm all the while.

Skywarp and Thundercracker exchanged expressions of shocked horror. Well, _this_ was a new revelation. Unsure if he'd accept the gesture, the two wrapped tentative arms around the trembling red jet, gently stroking the wings in hopes he'd calm down a little. Thankfully, he let them, shuddering and hiccupping like a terrified sparkling.

"But…" Skywarp said slowly, after the tremours had subsided a bit, "the little yellow Autobrat is different, isn't he?"

Thundercracker glared over Starscream's helm at Skywarp. He loved the purple one, but Primus, did Skywarp have a knack for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time! However, Starscream merely muttered something inaudibly.

"What?" Thundercracker asked, trying not to sound harsh or teasing as he added, "I didn't hear that."

The red jet shook his head.

"Aw, c'mon, Screame – er, Starscream!" Skywarp interjected. "We won't make fun of you!"

"I said I want to see him!" Starscream shrieked. "I don't want to lose him! I want to see him!"

"Well, then," Skywarp sat up suddenly with an odd look on his face. Thundercracker knew that look. It usually meant the purple jet was up to no good. "We'd better find a way to bust outta here and get to the Autobrats!"

oOo

Jazz looked around at the team he'd assembled to rescue Starscream. Of course, when Prowl had reported the seeker's disappearance, Optimus had been upset, but not enough to spare valuable troops. No one had any way of predicting how Shockwave would react, even though in Jazz's opinion, it didn't really matter. Shockwave couldn't hurt them if he tried, the bumbling, pompous fool. And besides, after the sad excuse for a life he'd lived, Starscream deserved better. The twins agreed, knowing full well what it was like to live like that.

The saboteur turned to his best friend. "Ya ready, Prowler?"

"No," the Datsun sighed. "And may I say that this isn't one of your smarter ideas?"

"No you may not."

"Optimus won't be pleased."

"An' he won't find out. _Right_, Red?" the Porsche turned to the security director, who had been blackmailed into helping out with this mission. Jazz didn't know how the twins had gotten their fellow Lamborghini to agree, and he wasn't sure he _wanted_ to know.

"He won't find out," Red Alert repeated grudgingly.

"Good ta know," Jazz smirked and transformed into alt-mode. "You're all sure ya wanna come along? If too many of us leave, Prime'll get suspicious…"

"Oh, Ratch'll hold him off," Wheeljack answered. "And we're all going. Why should you have all the fun, Jazz?"

"Right… Prowl, Wheeljack, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Skyfire, Bluestreak, an' Bumblebee… Transform an' roll out, y'all!"

-_TBC_-

**Yay…?**

**Okay, I admit it – the dream sequence was just a pathetic excuse for me to insert more fluff. The story was starting to miss it.**

**I absolutely love TC and Skywarp's game of hangman.**

**What did YOU absolutely love? (See? I'm getting more creative about asking for reviews! Didja catch that subtlety? Ooh, I'm so magically delicious! I'm the master! Erm… mistress…)**


	15. Chapter 15

**Last chapter. I'm not sure whether to be happy or upset. It's been a long, satisfying ride. (For me, at least.) Enjoy. Except for the fight scenes. I'm… not too good at those… in fact, the only thing I'm worse at is mech secks.**

"**Transformers" © Hasbro. And the title comes from Oasis.**

oOo

Skyfire dropped some of the automobile-Autobots off on the top of the Decepticon base, (which was, thankfully, sticking out of the ocean instead of submerged) than flew off to go wait onshore for further instruction with Wheeljack and Prowl.

"You're going to have to be quiet, Blue," Prowl had told the younger Datsun prior. "Are you sure you can handle that?"

"Yeah, Prowl, I can. Don't worry about me. It wouldn't really be fair for Starscream to keep suffering because of my stupid problems."

So here they were. The tension in the air was so thick, even a chainsaw would have trouble slashing through it. The hallways in the Decepticon HQ were oddly vacated.

"Alright," Jazz ordered. "Sunshine, come wit' me to go kick some Cyclops aft. Swiper, Blue, and Bee will go get Starscream from the cell and meet back here. Bee, you remember how ta get to the prison cells?"

"How could I forget?" Bumblebee nodded, trying to ignore the nervousness he felt. He'd been sent on spy missions before, but never actually to Decepticon HQ.

"Hold up," Sunstreaker glared at the saboteur. "Why do Sideswipe and I have to split up?"

"Cos yo' brotha's one of the few mechs who can keep Blue's mouth shut without sendin' the poor kid into depression!"

At Jazz's reply, Bluestreak looked away, slightly embarrassed. Sideswipe noticed and pat the other's head affectionately.

"It'll be fine, Sunny," Sideswipe smiled. "Besides, it's for Starscream, right?" He continued to grin, eyes glazing over briefly as he added something mentally.

Sunstreaker sighed. "I guess."

oOo

Shockwave, having only one optic, didn't have the best vision around. However, like humans, he made up for this sensory deficiency with heightened other senses. Which is why, even though Jazz was a master of stealth, he still heard the other entering the throne room.

"Who's there?" he demanded, whirling to face the door.

"Slag!" a voice cursed, but the mech who it belonged to moved quickly enough to only be registered as a golden blur.

"Get back here!" Shockwave brought up his gun arm, trying to aim.

"Oh no ya don't!" Jazz shouted, leaping onto the purple mech's back and grabbing the gun appendage, pulling with all his might til it was bent at an unsightly angle. Shockwave used his other arm to pry Jazz off and hold him to the floor.

A sudden kick to the throat made Shockwave gurgle and stagger away, releasing the saboteur from his grip as he did so.

"Thanks, Sunshine," Jazz gasped.

"No time for thank-yous – look out!"

oOo

For all his eagerness to help, Skywarp wasn't doing a good job of thinking up a plan. The security systems would go off even if they could get out of the cell, and they had no weapons to defend themselves with. It was pretty frustrating. He tore out yet another page of the notepad, grumbling.

"Watch it," Thundercracker glared as a crumbled ball of paper hit dangerously close to his optic. "And quit wasting my paper!" He turned to Starscream who was for once, Primus bless him, quiet. "You gonna be okay?"

"I'm _fine_," Starscream muttered, though, judging by the quiet vocal tone and dim optics, he wasn't fine. The red seeker shuddered slightly for a second.

"What was that for, then?"

Starscream glared at the ground, which meant he didn't want to answer for fear of being thought pathetic. Thundercracker, anticipating it, continued:

"That's not fair, Starscream. We know everything about each other."

"It's _obviously_ fine for you two to keep things from me, though."

"Are you still mad about that?" Skywarp piped up. "Touchy, aren't you?"

"Touchy?" Starscream repeated. "No. Crazy? That's a possibility…"

"What do you mean?" Thundercracker asked.

Starscream shifted uncomfortably. "I want to see him so badly, it's like I can hear his voice… it's pretty stupid, isn't it?"

Thundercracker was silent for a breem before answering, "It isn't stupid – I can hear it, too!"

All three seekers cocked their heads, listening. It was faint, but it was there:

"…Swipe… you doing?… that … stupidest … never …"

"Relax, Bumble … Sunny and… brig _thousands_ …"

"Sideswipe," Starscream whispered, and, despite himself, a slight smile adorned his face.

"You mean the Stunticon wannabe?" Skywarp questioned, but didn't have much time to reply, as suddenly, the energy bars holding them in dissipated. "What the frag?"

"I _told_ you so!" Sideswipe's loud voice resounded through the cell. "Go get him, Bee. The override to the alarms won't last very long!"

Thundercracker and Skywarp stood up protectively on either side of their ex-commander when the Lamborghini and Datsun entered, but relaxed a bit when they saw the Volkswagen.

"You two won't beat me up again, will you?" Bumblebee asked uneasily.

"If you get the slag over here and make _up_ with him already, we won't have to," Skywarp smirked. Bumblebee nodded, then ran, throwing himself into the arms of the red seeker.

"Starscream," Bumblebee nuzzled the other's cheek. "What the frag were you _thinking_!? No wait; don't answer that. I'm so glad you're okay!" He kissed the seeker, pent up emotions making it rough. The others pretended to be grossed out, but Starscream and Bumblebee didn't really care.

They broke apart, smiling.

"C'mon," Bumblebee stood up, gesturing for his partner to do the same. "We better get out of here."

Starscream grabbed the yellow minibot's hand and announced, "I love you."

Silence permeated the air as everybody gaped at Starscream. _What!?_ However, before Bumblebee could reply, the Decepticon alarm system began going off.

"Fuck!" Sideswipe shouted, and they all broke into a run.

oOo

"Slag," Shockwave muttered as the alarms started going off. Either some prisoners had just escaped, or the HQ had finally registered the security breach. Either way, he couldn't really deal with it at the moment. Why did these things always have to happen to him?

Right before a blow struck him in the chin, he registered a bulky form appearing in the doorway.

"Soundwave!" Shockwave shouted his loyal second-in-command's name. Soundwave would help him take down these walking scrap heaps!

Jazz looked up, alarmed. "S-Sounds!"

Soundwave stood calmly, as if taking it all in. His visor darkened as he opened his chest, releasing Rumble and Frenzy. He only needed two cassettes out – one to engage Sunstreaker, and one to engage Jazz. The cassetticon twins nodded when they understood what they were to do.

"Slag!" Sunstreaker shouted as Rumble jumped on him from behind. "Jazz, what the hell is going on!? I thought you two were on good terms!"

But Jazz didn't reply. Didn't move. He was floored by Soundwave acting against him, CPU not even registering Frenzy pushing him to the ground.

"Finally…" Shockwave muttered, and began to straighten out his gun-appendage – and was stopped by a blow to the chest. Falling to the floor, the last thing his CPU registered was the chilling voice of the communications officer:

"Shockwave: inferior."

Yellow optic dimming, Shockwave hit the floor and didn't rise again. The gaping hole in his chest was smoking. Rumble and Frenzy jumped off their opponents to get a closer look.

"Is the glitch-head de-activated?" Frenzy muttered. Rumble shook his head, pulling his brother up and ran back towards his caretaker.

Sunstreaker scowled at the blue tape for damaging his paint, but didn't do anything. With the alarm going off, they needed to act fast. "C'mon, Jazz, let's _go_."

Jazz didn't go, though. He turned to Soundwave, confused as ever. "Why…?"

"We needed ta distract you two Autobrats _somehow,_" Frenzy piped up, "Or the shot woulda killed you!"

"Yeah, couldn't have our _leader_ getting suspicious," Rumble smirked.

"Autobots: Leave immediately," Soundwave commanded.

"Your mask!" Jazz noticed as he walked towards the tape deck. "You aren't wearin' the stupid thing!"

"Starscream damaged it."

"Thank you," Jazz smiled and kissed the other on the cheek.

"Go before the others find you," Soundwave whispered.

"No," the saboteur smirked. "Not unless you come with us."

oOo

With Soundwave, Skywarp and Thundercracker helping, they were all about to get back to the shore where Skyfire was waiting patiently with Prowl and Wheeljack.

"Starscream!" Wheeljack's headfins flashed brightly as the red seeker landed apprehensively, glaring at the large jet.

"What is _he_ doing here?" Starscream glared up at Skyfire. Bumblebee looked away, sheepishly, not knowing how to correctly supply an answer.

"Oh, get over it," Skywarp smirked tauntingly, relieved to have escaped with his life and not really caring what would happen.

"I wasn't aware," Prowl said slowly, glaring at his best friend, "that you were planning on making this a recruit misson, Jazz."

"Shove it up your exhaust pipe, Autobot," the purple seeker spat before Jazz could reply. "Like we'd waste time fighting with _you_."

"For the sake of our commander," Thundercracker continued, "and since once Shockwave onlines he'll put a bounty on our head, it's in our best interests to go where _he _goes," the blue seeker nodded towards the petrified red seeker, who was still gawking at the patient shuttle-jet, as Wheeljack went unnoticed working at repairing his arm.

Prowl didn't look very happy about that, but as long as Thundercracker and Skywarp were claiming neutrality, he couldn't legally do anything about it. Sighing, he went to tend to Bluestreak, who was, in his state of relief, babbling on and on to no one in particular. Though the two weren't technically related, it was no secret that Prowl had become almost like a paternal figure to his fellow Datsun, with the twins as his pseudo-older-brother figures.

"Well," Wheeljack finished properly re-attaching the arm. "That should do until we can get you to Ratch. Which should be soon. Hey, Jazz, when are we leaving!?" the engineer called out in pursuit of the saboteur.

And so, rather anticlimactically if nothing else, Jazz and Wheeljack rounded up everybody and Skyfire prepared for launch. Still, Starscream was understandably reluctant. Thundercracker and Skywarp rather helpfully told him to 'get over it', but it was only Bumblebee who could convince the seeker that he didn't have to board if he didn't want to. If he could keep up, he and his trine were welcome to merely flank the transportation jet.

"What do you mean, _'if' _I can keep up?" was the arrogant seeker's snide reply.

Meanwhile, Prowl stood at Skyfire's entrance, watching stoically as Bumblebee, Jazz, and Soundwave (loyal cassettes intact) were the last to enter. The tactician held a hand out, stopping the latter.

"Prowl," Jazz seemed a bit put-off.

"Go on, Jazz. I need to have a talk with our old _friend_ here."

Jazz shrugged, gave Soundwave one last look, then followed his son into the shuttle.

"Soundwave: temporarily neutral," Soundwave tried, though not with much effort, to assure Prowl that he wasn't planning to sabotage the Autobots for Shockwave's gain.

"This isn't about that, and you and I both know it," Prowl answered.

Soundwave dug into Prowl's head, only to see a mental image of Jazz smirking back up at him. To his credit, if the tape deck was alarmed, he didn't show it.

"You love him," he muttered quietly to the Autobot second-in-command. It wasn't a question.

"You were always intelligent, Soundwave," Prowl answered calmly. "And, as a telepath, you should know what plans I have in store for you if you hurt him again. Am I clear?"

The indigo mech nodded his understanding, and Prowl allowed him to board.

oOo

Skyfire's landing wasn't quite as covert as Jazz would have hoped, but luckily, Optimus Prime didn't look angry. He looked relieved, waiting there on the ground along with Ratchet and First Aid, who were fully ready to repair whatever damage Shockwave had inflicted.

"Thundercracker. Skywarp. Soundwave," Optimus addressed the Decepticons that stepped towards him. "And, I assume, Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, Laserbeak, and Buzzsaw."

"Prime!" Jazz seemed surprised.

"Stupid Red Alert!" behind the saboteur, Sideswipe cried out. Next to him, the sentiment was echoed with a glare from the golden twin.

"Don't jump to conclusions, you two," Ratchet told his partners. "Red Alert didn't tell Prime. I did."

"Ratchet!?" the twins trotted over, Sideswipe asking, "Why would you betray us when all we've ever done is love you?"

"Like that's all you've ever done," If possible, Ratchet would have rolled his optics.

"It was extremely dangerous taking on the Decepticon commander in his own headquarters like that," Optimus looked down upon his subordinates. "Especially after I advised against it." Prowl and Jazz both opened their mouths to apologise, but Optimus stopped them. "It was risky, not well-thought-out, and potentially deadly. And I'd like to thank you both for going against both orders and logic, and going through with it anyway."

"Uh…" Jazz muttered unintelligently.

"And as for our unexpected guests," the Autobot leader continued, only to be interrupted by Bluestreak:

"Don't be mad, Optimus! They already promised they weren't working for Shockwave. In fact, Shockwave was gonna have Thundercracker and Skywarp put to death, and Starscream too, and, you know, they go where he goes and all that. I guess it's kinda like the twins with each other, I dunno, but you know what I mean? And Soundwave isn't gonna hurt us, either. I mean, he's Bumblebee's maker, right? He helped us put Shockwave temporarily out of action, and if Prowl trusts him, I trust him too! And furthermore – "

"Blue, shut up and let someone else say something, will ya?" Sunstreaker interrupted. Bluestreak shrank back a little, but smiled timidly when the golden twin grudgingly wrapped an arm around his shoulder to make up for the harsh tone. Ratchet smirked, and Sunstreaker glared at the medic, almost _daring_ him to make some sort of biting comment.

"Soundwave," attention turned back to Optimus Prime as he spoke again, addressing the tape deck. "Is this true?"

"Affirmative," the tape deck replied, hand over his face to hide that his mask was missing.

"Why?" First Aid piped up.

Soundwave looked at Jazz, then at Bumblebee and Starscream, then back to Optimus. Sliding his free hand into Jazz's, he replied, "I recently received a message from Ravage saying that some things are more important than the war."

"Ravage said that?" Jazz asked, making a mental note to thank the panther.

"Negative. Ravage delivered the message. Origin: Starscream."

"Optimus," Prowl addressed his commander. "It looks to me like Ratchet is eager to start working on the repairs so he can have some off-time later. And we have more important matters to tend to. While there are more important things, there is still a war going on, and you are still this faction's commander."

"Right," Optimus nodded, allowing the Datsun to lead him away, followed by First Aid, Ratchet, the twins, Bluestreak, Wheeljack, Skyfire, Jazz, Soundwave, Thundercracker, and Skywarp.

Outside the Ark, Bumblebee and Starscream lingered, the seeker's newly-repaired hand grasping the other's firmly.

"I've decided," Starscream said, "your idiot makers aren't _all _bad."

"I'll tell them you said you're welcome," Bumblebee smiled up at the gorgeous face of the ex-Decepticon.

"After all," the jet continued, "they made _you_, didn't they?"

That reminded the VeeDub: "Hey, Starscream? About what you said earlier…"

"What did I say?"

"Um…" the yellow mech shifted uncomfortably. "You said… you loved me…"

"_I _said that?"

Bumblebee nodded, then stepped back a little as the seeker kneeled down.

"Well," Starscream continued, pulling the other into a kiss. As soon as he broke it off, he said, "If _I_ said it, then it must be true. I never make mistakes."

"Of course you don't," Bumblebee replied sarcastically, then kissed the other again.

Starscream pulled back, then whispered into the other's audio's, "Well, maybe I can be wrong sometimes. If it means getting reward sex when I admit to it."

"St-Starscream!" the Autobot looked flustered.

"Thank you," Starscream smirked.

"What do you mean, 'thank you'? For what? Saving you? You don't need to thank me for that; it's what any Autobot would have done."

"For anyone else maybe. Not for me. And that wasn't what I was thanking you for, minibot."

Bumblebee pouted cutely. "Then why?"

The seeker lowered down to capture that cute pout in a brief kiss before replying, "Because. After all, you're my wonderwall."

-_fin_-

**Like I said. No real closure. A bit rushed at parts. Some pace issues. And the occasional mistake, too. English isn't my first language, after all. And even if it was, I've never been good at conclusions.**

**That all said, it's been a very long journey, and despite how hard I am on myself, I've really enjoyed it and hope you all have too. I'm proud of this story and even prouder that I managed to finish it. I wouldn't have been able to without your support. I can't possibly name all your names, but thank you very much to the 30 or so people who have this on their favourites, the 51 who have it on story alerts, and, of course, my beloved reviewers. This was all for you.**

**And even if this story is over, the series isn't. Head over to my profile and check out "Through Glass", which takes place in Jazz's and Soundwave's past. And if you're curious to all the allusions I've made to the twins relationship with Ratchet and mysterious dark past, check out "You May Be Right". And if you thirst for moar StarXBee, the next chapter of "Twenty" revolves around them and should be up by tomorrow.**


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